A clinical psychologist has told the High Court in Pretoria he does not believe Oscar Pistorius is a violent man and could be integrated back into society.
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After exhausting all his legal options to avoid prison, Pistorius could now face at least 15 years behind bars.
Prof Scholtz was called by defence lawyer Barry Roux on the first day of what is expected to be a five-day hearing to determine Pistorius’ sentence after his conviction for manslaughter was upgraded to murder in December.
Pistorius was at first given a five-year sentence for culpable homicide, South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, for shooting Steenkamp through a locked toilet door in his Pretoria home on February 14 three years ago.
Nel quoted Pistorius as saying to the police officer: “Please give us space and privacy”.
The “Blade Runner” as he was popularly known made history in 2012 by being the first amputee sprinter to compete in the Olympics. In prison, he was verbally aggressive to a prison nurse and pounded her desk with his hand, he said. He said he thought she was an intruder-shooting her through the bathroom door four times.
The defense appears to be pushing for Pistorius to avoid more jail time and to be hospitalized instead.
The interview drew a sharp attack from state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who said it proved that Pistorius was capable of testifying.
Dr. Scholtz went on tell Pretoria’s High court that Pistorius has sold all his guns and is “quite ill” after being subjected to several “traumatic and humiliating experiences” in prison.
Defence witness Jonathan Scholtz, a psychologist, urged the court to sentence Oscar Pistorius to hospitalisation.
“This Comment contends that professional athletes’ celebrity status and the national media coverage that accompanies their cases cause some athletes to be singled out as sacrificial lambs while allowing other athletes to receive preferential treatment”, wrote Laurie Nicole Robinson in the Indiana Law Journal in 1998.
His conduct came under the spotlight during Scholtz’s testimony. Scholtz said he was on medication for depression, anxiety and insomnia.
The new Pistorius trial is before the same judge, Judge Thokozile Masipa, who initially acquitted Pistorius of murder and Pistorius’ lawyers are arguing for leniency.
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Nel also disputed a claim by the psychologist that Pistorius was traumatised after he saw a prisoner who had hanged himself, saying it was unlikely that he could have seen the victim. He also put it to Scholtz that Pistorius had complained about “everything and often”, but never about the alleged assault.
