A psychiatrist who examined fallen Olympian Oscar Pistorius for the State during his seven-month trial two years ago for shooting his lover Reeva Steenkamp says the mental condition of the double amputee has deteriorated sharply.
Dr Jonathon Scholtz tells a sentencing hearing in the Pretoria High Court that Pistorius should be hospitalised not returned to prison as is expected after his manslaughter conviction was upgraded to murder.
ends intro
The sentencing hearing for South Africa’s disgraced golden boy is set down to last until Friday.
Judge Thokozile Masipa, who’s manslaughter conviction was overturned by the Appeal Court who found Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder, is once again on the bench.
She has to impose the harsher sentence on the accused, who insists he fired the fatal shots that killed Reeva Steenkamp through the bathroom door of his apartment believing there was an intruder.
South Africa’s criminal law lays down a mandatory 15 year sentence for murder.
- Masipa may reduce this if there are extraordinary circumstances. She may also take into account that Pistorius has served a year in prison of the five-year sentence she originally laid down.
Psychiatrist Jonathon Scholtz reported during the original trial that there were two Oscars – the Olympic hero with his prosthesis and the insecure frightened boy on his stumps.
Now he says there’s a third Pistorius who’s too broken-sprited to give evidence in mitigation of his sentence.
He’s suffering deep anxiety, paranoia and post traumatic stress.
He should be hospitalized not incarcerated.