The Daily Star today claimed that Reeva Steenkamp was pregnant when she was killed by boyfriend Oscar Pistorius:
The paper reported:
"MODEL Reeva Steenkamp was pregnant when Oscar Pistorius shot her, it was claimed yesterday. The explosive allegations came to light in the US."
Whereabouts in the US? Whose evidence has the Daily Star been swayed by?
"Reports in a US magazine claim Reeva, 29, was overjoyed about becoming a mum and could not wait to tell the Olympics and Paralympics star."
The Daily Star doesn't tell us which US magazine, which seems odd because it's a name most people will be familiar with. Here it is...
That's right, the Daily Star's source for this controversial front page story was the National Enquirer. The Daily Mail, which also ran this story did admit taking its lead from the National Enquirer but the Star clearly felt such an admission would undermine its story.
Now the family of Reeva Steenkamp has been forced to come out and comment on the speculation. Family spokesman Mike Steenkamp told the South African media:
"The post mortem would have revealed if Reeva was pregnant and it did not reveal anything like this."
Obviously the Daily Star and the Daily Mail didn't think about the impact this story would have on a grieving family. But then it's unlikely they would have cared. The Daily Star certainly set the tone for its coverage earlier in week when it claimed:
Clearly they aren't going to wait around for the inconvenient wheels of justice to turn on this case before publishing whatever rumours they think will sell the most newspapers on any given day.
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