Steenkamp's mother June Steenkamp said in an interview published in the Times 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 Steenkamp.
"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 newspaper in a phone interview from her home in Seaview, Port Elizabeth.
"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."
Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius appeared in court on Friday in connection with the murder of 29-year-old Steenkamp, who was shot dead at his luxury Pretoria home.
His bail hearing is set to take place on Tuesday and Steenkamp's family planned a private funeral for her on the same day. He faces a life sentence if convicted of premeditated murder and remains in custody in Pretoria ahead of that hearing.
'Freak accident'
Meanwhile, Beeld reported on Monday Pistorius in January accidentally fired a gun shot at a busy Jo'burg restaurant.
The paper said the bullet, which was fired at a Tashas in Melrose Arch, almost hit the foot of Kevin Lerena, a boxer and mutual friend of Pistorius and his slain girlfriend, Steenkamp – who was allegedly gunned down in Pistorius's Pretoria home last week.
"I got a huge fright, because the bullet hit the ground just centimetres from my foot … but it really was just a freak accident," Lerena told Beeld.
He said he had visited the restaurant with a group of friends who included Pistorius.
"I must emphasise that the gun belonged to one of Pistorius's friends – I'm not going to mention his name. Oscar just wanted to look at the gun, and it sort of snagged on his pants, releasing the safety catch. A shot went off. I wouldn't call him negligent, it was just an accident. He apologised to me for days afterwards," Lerena said.
The restaurant did not report the incident to the police, as Pistorius and Steenkamp were regular customers.
"I went to investigate when I heard the shot, but they all denied it," said Tashas' manager, Jason Loupis. – Sapa