The mother of Oscar Pistorius’ slain girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that she wanted answers on why her daughter had “died like this”.

“Why my little girl? Why did this happen? Why did he do this? What for?,” asked June Steenkamp, the mother of Steenkamp, who was allegedly gunned down in Pistorius’ Pretoria home last week.

He is facing a murder charge and is expected to apply for bail for the Valentine’s Day shooting on Tuesday.

“She had so much of herself to give and now all that is gone. Just like that, she is gone… In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here,” she told The Times newspaper in a phone interview from her home in Seaview, Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.

“All we have is this horrendous death to deal with… to get to grips with. All we want are answers… answers as to why this had to happen, why our beautiful daughter had to die like this.”

By Sapa