Paralympian in relationship with blonde Jenna Edkins 'on
off' for five years
Sprinter, 29, split with bank worker, 26, before he dated
tragic model Reeva
Ms Edkins tweeted her support for her ex on his arrest for
shooting Reeva
She tweeted that in their relationship he had never raised a
finger to her
Blonde has been in court next to his sister Aimee to support
her ex-lover
By JANE FLANAGAN IN PRETORIA FOR BE INFORMED
PUBLISHED: 15:16 GMT, 14 June 2016 | UPDATED: 22:48 GMT, 14
June 2016
One of Oscar Pistorius’ former girlfriends has appeared to
support him in court for the first time this week, prompting speculation that
the depressed sprinter is drawing comfort from their past romance during his
final days of freedom.
Jenna Edkins, for whom the convicted murderer has confessed
to having a lingering affection, looked entirely at home among the ranks of
Pistorius’ extensive family as she took her place next to his sister, Aimee, on
the hard, wooden benches of Pretoria’s High Court.
The 26-year-old bank worker has maintained a deliberately
low profile since her name was first linked to Pistorius, 29, at the height of
his celebrity following his historic appearance at both the Olympics and
Paralympics in London in 2012.
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Lingering affection: Jenna Edkins, left, had been in an
'on/off' relationship with the shamed paralympian for five years before he shot
dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp as she hid behind the bathroom doo
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Happy: Ms Edkins, a 26-year-old bank worker, has been a
fierce supporter of the sprinter since his arrest. She tweeted: 'I would just
like to say I have dated Oscar on off for five years and he has never lifted a
finger to me
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With a comforting hand outstretched to Aimee, who recently
left South Africa to begin a new life in London, Jenna regularly looked with
concern at the back of the double amputee’s bowed head as he sobbed quietly in
the dock when the crucial hearing to decide his punishment yesterday got
underway.
Unlike Samantha Taylor, the girlfriend who followed her into
Pistorius’ life in 2012, Jenna has never spoken publicly about her relationship
with the track star who is facing a lengthy jail sentence for the murder of
model Reeva Steenkamp, who was 29.
Jenna briefly broke cover in the chaotic hours after
Pistorius’ arrest for the murder of Reeva, which took place in the early hours
of Valentine’s Day 2013, to express her unqualified support for him with a
string of empassioned tweets.
Tellingly, Jenna’s message appeared to hint that there had
never been a final break in the romance, which began in 2008, when she was aged
just 17, two years younger than the double amputee.
Her unequivocal backing was in stark contrast to the
reaction of Samantha and her family to Pistorius’ arrest. Trish Taylor
expressed her relief on facebook that it had not been her daughter who had died
at Pistorius’s hands. ‘I’m so glad Sammy is safe and out of the clutches of
that man,’ she told her friends.
Samantha’s sister, Kerri-Lee, also waded into the on-line
war of words, attacking Jenna personally, labelling her a ‘walk over’ and
demanded to know ‘How can you support a guy that has taken an innocent life?’
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| Plea: She begged the public to wait before they judged the double amputee after his arrest for the shooting on Valentine's Day. Pistorius said he had shot her through the bathroom door as he thought she was an intruder |
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Embrace: Ms Edkins comforted Pistorius' sister Aimee and
regularly looked with concern at the back of the double amputee’s bowed head as
he sobbed quietly in the dock during the hearing in Pretoria
|
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Tribute: Pictured leaving in court, she said of his arrest:
'People must stop jumping on the bandwagon with such hurtful allegations. Os is
the loving, amazing, inspirational person we know him to be'
|
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Close: Ms Edkins, pictured this week with Pistorius' sister
Aimee, offered a comforting hand outstretched to her during her brother's
sentencing. Aimee has left South Africa and has begun a new life in London
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In early 2008, by which time the pair’s innocent childhood
friendship had grown into an adult romance, Jenna was excitedly campaigning for
her talented boyfriend’s historic inclusion into able-bodied athletics, as her
Facebook feed reveals.
Pistorius’ references to Jenna, a business school graduate,
in his autobiography ‘Blade Runner’, are both affectionate and flattering. He
describes her as ‘delightful’, ‘sweet-natured’ and remarks on her ‘sparkling’
blue eyes.
But the athlete’s enduring affection for the younger woman
he called by the nick name ‘BabyShoes’ became the source of bitter conflict
during his romance with Samantha, a would-be model.
In a frank interview, Samantha, 25, who gave evidence
against Pistorius for the state at his original murder trial, claimed his
ongoing contact with Jenna during their relationship had been a factor in their
eventual break-up.
‘Often I would wake up and he would be sitting on his phone.
I often saw her name, although it was not saved under ‘BabyShoes’ at the time.
It was ‘Jenna Edkins’. If he was showing me a photo on his phone and her
WhatsApp message would pop up — we fought over that a lot. She was a very big
problem in our relationship, a huge problem,’ she told journalists Mandy Weiner
and Barry Bateman.
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Affection: The athlete’s enduring affection for the younger
woman he nicknamed 'BabyShoes' became the source of bitter conflict during his
romance with his next girlfriend Samantha Taylor, who he dated in 2012
|
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Jealousy: In a previous interview, Ms Taylor 25, who gave
evidence against Pistorius at his original murder trial, claimed his contact
with Ms Edkins during their relationship had been a factor in their eventual
break-up
|
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Bust ups: Ms Taylor went on: ‘Often I would wake up and he
would be sitting on his phone. I often saw her name, although it was not saved
under ‘BabyShoes’ at the time. It was ‘Jenna Edkins’. I often saw her name'
|
Pistorius’ references to Jenna, a business school graduate,
in his autobiography ‘Blade Runner’, are both affectionate and flattering. He
describes her as ‘delightful’, ‘sweet-natured’ and remarks on her ‘sparkling’
blue eyes.
The athlete’s enduring affection for the younger woman he
called by the nick name ‘BabyShoes’ became the source of bitter conflict during
his subsequent romance with Samatha Taylor.
In a frank interview, Samantha claimed her jealousy over his
ongoing contact with Jenna had been a major factor in their eventual break-up.
‘Often I would wake up and he would be sitting on his phone.
I often saw her name, although it was not saved under ‘BabyShoes’ at the time.
It was ‘Jenna Edkins’. I often saw her name. If he was
showing me a photo on his phone and her WhatsApp message would pop up — we
fought over that a lot.
She was a very big problem in our relationship, a huge
problem,’ she told journalists Mandy Weiner and Barry Bateman
 |
Murdered: On the night Pistorius shot law graduate Reeva,
29, (pictured) he spent ten minutes chatting to Ms Edkins on his mobile phone
as he arrived home, according to a book on the killing called 'Behind the Door
|
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Claims: The book’s authors claim that the record of the
double amputee’s lengthy call to the number listed in his phone contacts as
‘BabyShoes’, was wiped from the device’s memory in the days after the murder
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A Facebook picture showing Jenna curled up on Pistorius’ bed
hugging a puppy that had been acquired and named by Samantha and her lover,
compounded Samantha’s distress. In an email Pistorius sent to Samantha in 2012,
he admitted his lingering affection for the other woman.
So certain was Samantha that Jenna was a constant figure in
Pistorius’s life, that she immediately concluded from early reports of a
shooting at the sprinter’s home that it was Jenna who had been killed.
Although she was not Pistorius’ victim, Jenna did in fact
have a minor role in the tragic events of that night Reeva was murdered,
according to a book about the shooting, which was published last year.
According to ‘Behind The Door’, Pistorius had spent nearly
ten minutes chatting to Jenna on his mobile phone as he arrived home to spend
the evening with law graduate Reeva, which ended with her murder nine hours
later.
The book’s authors claim that the record of the double
amputee’s lengthy call to the number listed in his phone contacts as
‘BabyShoes’, was wiped from the device’s memory in the days after the
murder.
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Hearing: June and
Barry Steenkamp were at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa on
Tuesday to see the shamed athlete sentenced for the murder of their 'beautiful'
daughter
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Pitiful: Pistorius sobbed during the hearing as Ms
Steenkamp's father said he 'must pay' for the model's murder as he addressed
the disgraced athlete directly for the first time
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Today, once again following the emotional evidence of his
victim’s father, it was to Jenna that Pistorius turned to comfort as she moved
to be with him during the break.
Asked whether the two had re-kindled their romance, a source
close to the family would only say, ‘Jenna and Oscar have always been close,
she’s always been in and out of his life, then, now and I imagine in the future
too,’ he said.
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