LISTEN: Barry Steenkamp recounts the day Reeva died
Reeva Steenkamp's father has recounted the day his daughter was killed.
Barry Steenkamp is testifying in aggravation of sentence in the North Gauteng High Court where Oscar Pistorius will be re-sentenced in line with a murder conviction he received from the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The State's Advocate Gerri Nel asked a shaking Barry Steenkamp where he was when he heard about Reeva's death on Valentine's Day in 2013.
Steenkamp describes how Reeva's death has affected the family's lives - saying he often sits on the veranda.
Before the court adjourned briefly, the defence's Advocate Barry Roux began his cross-examination by telling Mr Steenkamp that they are very sorry and whatever they do won't bring Reeva back.
Roux added that they understand and respect their (Barry and June) decision to decline a request a meeting with Pistorius.
Steenkamp told Roux that they felt that the time was not appropriate then.
"I'm sure if you were in my position, you would have felt the same. But most probably, the time will come. We want to talk to Oscar, in private. Not now - at a later stage. I would like to talk to him, yes," Mr Steenkamp said.
Roux told Reeva's father that they respect their wishes.
"Mr Steenkamp, I cant tell you as a fact that there is nothing that he (Pistorius) wants more than that. So, when it's appropriate - please, I think it's something that should happen," Roux said.
Reeva's father was in court during the early days of Pistorius's trial but stopped attending proceedings as he became ill.
He had also suffered a stroke a few months before the trial began in March 2014.
The double amputee has spent just under a year in prison as a result of the North Gauteng High Court's initial culpable homicide conviction.
He was released in October last year and placed under house arrest as he served the remainder of the 5-year sentence he had been handed.
Meanwhile, the State went to the SCA in Bloemfontein after trial judge Thokozile Masipa granted it leave to appeal Pistorius's culpable homicide conviction in December 2014.
In December 2015, judges in the SCA set aside the culpable homicide conviction, replacing it with murder, after the State said Masipa had erred in her judgement and argued successfully that the paralympian would have foreseen that firing four shots through the door of a tiny toilet would have likely resulted in the death of the person behind the door.