The 29-year-old Paralympic gold medallist is awaiting sentencing in Pretoria after he was convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
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Dr. Jonathan Scholtz said Pistorius suffered from anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress syndrome, and putting him in jail would only worsen his mental state.
He added that Pistorius wasn’t psychologically fit to testify at the hearing, but that he was remorseful and guilty about taking Steenkamp’s life. He noted that Pistorius had sold his firearms, became jumpy even at the sound of gunfire on television, and was unlikely to resort to violence again.
But a prosecutor questioned the claim, noting that Mr. Pistorius was recently able to give an exclusive interview to a British TV network for broadcast after the sentencing. He also said Pistorius still struggles with depression and has become “despondent and lethargic”.
It now falls to judge Thokozile Masipa to determine the sentence for murder, which ordinarily carries a minimum term of 15 years.
Oscar Pistorius has told a psychologist that he was attacked in prison and also heard an inmate being raped, who he later saw hanging in his cell, the high Ccourt in Pretoria has heard.
Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp after firing four times through a locked toilet door but claimed he believed he was shooting at an intruder.
Oscar Pistorius, centre, appears in the High Court for re-sentencing proceedings, in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, June 13, 2016.
But defence advocate Barry Roux said that after consulting with Pistorius, he was told that the incident came after his family sent him Voltaren for an injured hand.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel disagreed, saying Pistorius had granted an interview to global media but can’t testify in court.
A psychologist speaking in mitigation at Oscar Pistorius’s sentencing hearing says the Paralympian should be in hospital rather than prison. In 2014, Pistorius was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years in jail in the death Steenkamp, who was shot through a bathroom door by Pistorius.
The prosecution argued that information in the psychological report about Pistorius being assaulted in prison and witnessing a hanging were untrue.
Pistorius shown no remorse for the murder, and that he only “feels sorry for himself”.
The court resumes on Tuesday at 9.30am local time (7.30am GMT), when we expect to hear from the second witness for the defence. But that manslaughter conviction was overturned previous year by South Africa’s Supreme Court, which convicted Pistorius of the more serious charge of murder.
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The “Blade Runner” as he was popularly known made history in 2012 by being the first amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympics.
