Durban - The trial of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius should resume tomorrow following a month-long psychiatric assessment.
The fact that one of the psychiatrists who evaluated him is in hospital is not expected to cause a delay.
Pistorius was ordered to report to Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria on May 26.
The evaluation was meant to take 30 days.
It was reported that a psychiatric report would then be handed to the registrar of the court, the National Prosecuting Authority and Pistorius’s defence team.
But reports surfaced on Friday that the key medical expert compiling the report, Dr Leon Fine, had been admitted to hospital after suffering chest pains.
It was speculated this could further delay the trial because Fine, one of four mental health experts, needed to sign off the document.
The assessment was ordered by Judge Thokozile Masipa after psychiatrist Merryll Vorster testified that the athlete suffered generalised anxiety disorder, which involves chronic worrying, nervousness and tension.
Based on this, the State applied to have Pistorius sent for observation.
He is accused of the premeditated murder of his 29-year-old girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on February 14 last year, having shot her through a locked door in the bathroom.
The athlete denies deliberately killing Reeva, saying he thought she was an intruder. - Sunday Tribune