Pretoria - Oscar Pistorius is not mentally stable enough to cope with testifying during his sentencing proceedings, nor should he be sentenced to a lengthy prison stay. This was according to a psychology professor who over the past two years had conducted extensive interviews with the athlete.
Monday morning was the start of the proceedings set down for a week at the High Court in Pretoria, where Pistorius is fighting for a reduced murder sentence.
In December, Pistorius was convicted of murder for the 2013 killing of his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, after the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned his previous conviction of culpable homicide. The SCA believed Pretoria High Court Judge, Thokozile Masipa, had erred in ruling Pistorius had no intention to kill when he fired four bullets on a closed bathroom door at his Pretoria estate.
The SCA found that by firing on the door, regardless of whether an intruder was behind it or not, Pistorius should have known that the person inside the bathroom could have been killed. He was therefore found guilty of murder dolus eventualis, or murder with indirect intent.
Pistorius this year launched an application at the Constitutional Court to overturn the SCA ruling, but the apex court chose not to hear it.
Monday morning sentencing proceedings for the Paralympian began at the High Court in Pretoria with his defence team, led by Advocate Barry Roux, explaining he would call two witnesses, a psychologist and one that related to Pistorius's charity work.
The first witness called was Professor Jonathan Scholtz, a psychologist at Weskoppies psychiatric hospital, and an adjunct professor at University of Pretoria.
It was established he was one of the assessors who initially assessed Pistorius during his psychiatric observation during the trial in May 2014.
In a report submitted to the court, Scholtz said during his assessment, he interviewed Pistorius for 19 hours, and also interviewed numerous others who knew the athlete.
He claimed his objectivity had not been compromised, and that he based his current testimony on his initial assessment and subsequent interviews this year, as well as other reports and documentation linked to the case.
Scholtz said he had also analysed factors that could lead to a person committing a crime, as well as Pistorius's current mental state.
He labelled Pistorius, during his recent interviews, as anxious and depressed, with limited energy, a lack of concentration, and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“Currently, in my opinion, I don't think he is not able to testify (during these proceedings),” said Scholtz.
The professor also explained that Pistorius's parents had contributed to his current predicament. His mother had also suffered from anxiety, and that the family's experience of crime had made her more anxious.
This had affected Pistorius's own mental health from a young age, and he felt abandoned when his mother passed away, and because of a poor relationship with his father.
According to Scholtz, Pistorius had good relationships with his extended family and had relied on them financially and emotionally.
Scholtz then moved on to Pistorius's childhood, from when he became a double-amputee at 11 months old. He had to work hard at his studies, with no incidents of ill-discipline or behavioural studies during his schooling.
Pistorius's athletic achievements were then listed, and how when the incident took place, his life changed forever.
“His fall from grace was enormous,” said Scholtz, who said the athlete had been vilified since the shooting.
He was also unable to properly mourn the deceased, and not allowed to attend Steenkamp's funeral, and was traumatised after her death.
Scholtz then turned to Pistorius's history of personal relationships. He said that Pistorius felt many women wanted to be with him because of his fame, and it was difficult for him to form solid relationships. His relationship with Steenkamp was healthy, and non-abusive, according to Scholtz.
He said Pistorius's enthusiasm for guns had dissipated since the murder, and he had sold all of his firearms. Scholtz said Pistorius's anxiety would be triggered when hearing gunshots, even on television, for example.
An in-depth mental health assessment showed that while he showed minimal signs of psychopathy or psychosis, he had become depressed, agoraphobic and paranoid, particularly about perceptions of himself in public and the media. His General Anxiety Disorder had also worsened in the past two years.
Scholtz said that he did not get a chance to interview the Steenkamp family or determine the current impact of their daughter's death. He said the court needed to take into account the fact that Pistorius was a first time offender, young, intelligent and willing to give of himself doing charity work.
Pistorius had already spent a year in prison, and was not psychopathic or anti-social, nor likely to re-offend, the professor said. He said that the athlete had a firm job offer from a company that works on early childhood development programs. Pistorius's health issues did need to be addressed, however.
“His current condition warrants hospitalisation,” said Scholtz.
“(He is) disinvested and leaves his future in the hands of God,” he added.
According to Scholtz, Pistorius has been harassed in public, and mentioned an incident at a shopping mall where a person allegedly complained about not wanting to shop alongside a “murderer”.
“His spirit seemed broken... One has to prompt him to get some semblance of hope for the future,” said Scholtz.
Pistorius's previous prison experiences had also traumatised him, having allegedly heard a rape during his incarceration.
After the incident, Pistorius was moved to an isolated area of the prison's hospital ward, and felt like an animal by being kept in isolation for his stay.
He argued that Pistorius would be better used serving his community instead of being behind bars.
The Star