I (= Interviewer) - thank you for joining us
MB - thanks very much, thank you
I - Mark... you've been seen to support the SteenKamp family but it must've been a very difficult last couple of weeks, I saw towards the end of it yesterday that the Steenkamps, they looked a little bit fatigued and almost glad that this terrible ordeal is now over, how do you view it now, 24 hours later?
MB - I think reality sets in, you know you see the pictures of inmates in their orange uniforms .. Oscar's there now eating prison food but I think when you break it down more I think the sentence was very very light so I think it was, it's been a long process and I mean Mrs Steenkamp's been there the whole time and Mr Steenkamp. I've only met them through the trial .. I've known Reeva and I was a friend of Reeva and obviously that's why I'm supporting the whole thing but um you know just to see the dignity that they held between them, and that they never were aggressive towards anyone in the court, they, especially Mr Steenkamp, he's just like one of the nicest men you will ever meet, he was just so humble with everything and I think that's where a lot of swords were crossed because you know the Pistorius's weren't, they were hostile in the court, they were always trying to intimidate people, they would stare people down, I mean Aimee acts like the big victim .. she stares at everybody .. all the girls there, Gina Myers, Kim Myers .. you know, she did it to me and Jared Mortimer but obviously we can handle it, so it came to an end where they just said justice has been done .. I heard Mrs Steenkamp saying if that's justice then they've got to live with it, but personally I just think it's way too short and I think they think the state's going to appeal.
I - Mark, you spoke about the Pistorius family staring people down .. we had an incident with a friend of yours, Mikey Schultz, who also supported you and the family in the courtroom, what happened there .. it's almost like after they did an interview with the Pistorius family and they painted themselves as the victim in this case, that's a little bit rich wouldn't you say?
MB - .... exactly <unrecognisable word/s> accuse two of my best friends .. and they came to support me and Jared and .. he hadn't been in that court room you know, on the Tuesday was the first time they ever went there and they sat at the back and we were helping the state with some of the witnesses .. that's Mr Nel and (Andrew Leech?), all those guys .. they were helping when Mikey had his troubles/thing (?), they were part of the prosecuting team there so he had a big friendship with them so that's how we got involved in the whole thing, and we did, we did a lot of work behind the scenes for the state, helping them get witnesses there, you know witnesses they couldn't reach to we'd go see them and that was, it wasn't like err we want some praise, we were doing it for the Steenkamps and for the state to get justice, which in the end wasn't really .. and that whole boil up was you know, Mikey walked in the courtroom there were no other seats .. him and Marc Strydom sat down on the first available seats .. the police actually showed them where to sit .. and then Aimee started her nonsense again .... on that day she was staring at Jared so much Jared said <unrecognisable word/s> blowing kisses 'I just wanna get her off my case' you know? She came up to me in the coffee shop twice and looked me up and down and shook her head like in disgust and I just turned and walked away .. twice she did it .. I mean, what we're doing is right, we're not there against them, you know, we're there for justice and I <something about Oscar> that's not the reason why I am there, Oscar's not affecting my life, I'm not worried about that thing, I was there because she got shot and she got killed and murdered behind that door like a ..
I- .. and it was a friend of yours ..
MB - .. yes, a hundred per cent
I- I wanted to take you back a couple of years, you know in the media we always .. we heard stories about the famous incidents in the past, a lot of people spoke at that time of Oscar being a train wreck waiting to happen .. was there a time when he threatened you, when there were women involved with a friend of yours again .. did he threaten you and was he that kind of aggressive type that was spoiling for a fight, as it were ? (MB is saying 'yes' in the background all the way through that)
MB - yeah, he was always looking for it and, I mean, he swore and me, he said to to that he was gonna break my legs and we got a call to General <surname> (from the Hawks?) office for that whole thing and then they realised that he had phoned *me* twice .. coz they had painted a picture that *I* had created this thing with Oscar .. and it was again .. a friend of mine, Quinten Van den Burg, he threatened him on two or three occasions, even after everything was settled he still saw him afterward at Shimmy's (?) in Capetown and he had another go at him you know, and <unrecognisable word/s) Kevin Larina to pull him off and you know Quinten's not a confrontational guy at all, he's just .. he even sold (?) his tickets for that new year's party and he just said 'look I'm going back home, I don't need this in my life' and he diffused the whole thing but Oscar would keep baiting for it, baiting for it (MB is doing an impression of a tiger pawing with his left paww/hand at this point!) and then when I got involved we got a call to the cops and the cops said 'you've got a national soccer player here and you've got a national athlete and we don't take these things ..' you know, that's their time ... I'd phoned them they would've pulled the records of all the phones <all very jumbled here>.. there's minutes there, my side was clear .. but you know, he did, he threatened to break my legs, he was gonna smash me and 'he's not scared of me and he knows I'm with Mikey and he's not scared of any of us', and you know just baiting the whole time .. but he went on phoned me twice, screamed and shouting, ranting and raving ..I actually laughed and put the phone down.
I- that really puts a different spin on this kind of thing .. why do you think this kind of thing didn't come out in the courtroom and what do you make of the incident with Jared Mortimer .. I think it was in the VIP Room .. in the middle of the trial .. what kind of person does that sort of thing?
MB - well, Guil was also one of his good friends .. Guil was in the courtroom that day .. just got to tell the truth, cos Oscar had said he was with his cousin and he wasn't with his cousin, he was with Guil and they meet at Marco Polo (casino, having done a quick google) first and they downed a couple of drinks and Gull had asked him the question, he said 'why do you want to go out in the middle of your trial?' and he (Oscar) just said 'ah, just wanna get out, wanna get out' and then Guil said 'you gotta do the right thing' and anyway then they went there and then <unrecognisable word) Jared, and Jared challenged him to a polygraph, I challenged him to a polygraph, and you know (talking on that wire?) if he was so innocent, why didn't he say ... and I know it's got nothing to do with and you can't produce it in a court of law, just to clear his own head and say 'listen, if I didn't murder her, if I didn't kill her in cold blood' the way we saw it and should've got 'murder 1' why didn't he just say 'listen, I'm willing to take a polygraph test' just to clear my name but he never did it because we know what the truth was, and they had argument and a fight, and he came out in a rage and that's the thing, that's the scary thing, is that this could've happened any time and I mean Samantha Taylor was nearly two years with him, it could've happened to her, other girlfriends all the same thing, all the same stories come out ... that's the sad thing .. Reeva should've .. that should never have happened, you know .. it's a sad day that's she's gone and he gets 5 years and will do 10 months.
I - What do you think of the sentence, firstly .. and secondly, tell us about this journey, you guys have been in similar circles, similar sorts of restaurants over the years .. if not Reeva, do you believe that someone else would've taken a bullet at the hands of Oscar Pistorius?
MB - I think so .. in my opinion, and the view of a lot of people, it was just waiting to happen and I think, on that day, .. there is speculation now about that iphone that was .. that Carl had had...... but now the only people who will know on that phone is the three of them Oscar, Carl and Reeva and as you know Reeva can't talk and um and that's what makes me sad is that, you know, she's .. we were trying to be a voice for her and then you get victimized 'what are you guys doing there .. what are you doing in court ' .. 'what is.. ' .. I was a state witness and I'm a friend hers and I'm supporting the family so, you know,that answer to a lot of people, but everybody that was there was just trying to be a voice for her and I think she's been forgotten far too early in this whole thing and and tomorrow everybody will turn over the pages and she will be forgotten that is the sad thing because her life was just starting but the sentence and the conviction, just to answer your questions, were both wrong in my view, I think murder '1' and they're going to come back to it earlier in the ... later in the .. <whole bunch of unrecognisable words here> dossier <unrecognisable whatever they <unrecognisable> ... and I've listened to many bits and I spoke to him yesterday and they've got to clear it all up because you know the way she still said in her sentencing, when she did the sentencing .. on the conviction side she's got it wrong because I understand that she's going on, that she said, you know, that both those sets of witnesses, the state witnesses and the defence witness .. there's too many discrepancies but on his testimony alone, she said you're a terrible witness, you lied under oath, you were evasive, you know she threw a whole load of questions at him, everything that she worried about and said <unrecognisable word/s> 2 meters away from that door and, I mean, I sat in that court, you know, 2 meters away from that door and you screaming, in the accused's own words 'at the top of your voice' 'get out of my house, get out of my house' why your partner or your girlfriend wouldn't shout back at say 'listen, it's me' and then shoot 4 times, not once, but 4 times .. you definitely shoot to kill there, that's why that intent was to kill and I think that's why the state will appeal on that.
I - and you see yourself as making some submissions to the state if there's an appeal?
MB - well, we were going to .. all of us were going to testify on the case .. we can't testify on what happened that night because it had nothing to do with us .. even Sam Taylor, and if you read the book from the mother that's, you know, on Oscar and you see what's been on the (files?) about him 'oh I'll go to counselling .. I promise you I won't do this again' .. so you can see the pattern of events and the pattern that he has but you know, we were meant to testify .. Jared, myself and Gina Myers .. were still gonna testify and then obviously with all the incidents inside and outside the courtrooms and Gerrie just thought it better to rest the case and I think he did his job, again I think the state did their job for the conviction and I think they got the wrong conviction and the judge got the wrong sentencing . So, the state did their job
I - well, we'll know within the next week or so when this goes down .. Mark, thank you very much for joining us, I know you had great difficulty to get here this morning .. there's a lot of roadworks out there
B - thanks very much, thanks
