Called by Pistorius’ defence lawyers, psychologist Jonathan Scholtz said Pistorius was “quite ill” and struggled with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. “One would describe him as broken”.
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“Mr Pistorius’ condition has worsened since 2014”, testified Scholtz, adding he was now “despondent and lethargic, disinvested, and leaves his future in the hands of God”.
Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp after firing four times through a locked toilet door but claimed he believed he was shooting at an intruder.
Scholtz said he favors community service so that Pistorius can help others.
No, Pistorius is at his uncle’s mansion under house arrest.
On December 3 previous year, the SCA overturned his culpable homicide conviction, and replaced it with the more serious one of murder.
He faces a minimum 15-year sentence, and he will not be appeal to appeal.
Oscar Pistorius is an unrepentant liar, aggressive and verbally violent to prison officials. Pistorius could be going straight back to the cell after the sentencing hearing.
A psychologist speaking in mitigation at Oscar Pistorius’s sentencing hearing says the Paralympian should be in hospital rather than prison.
Chief prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned why Pistorius was unable to testify this week after he did manage to conduct a television interview for ITV. The Constitutional Court, South Africa’s version of the Supreme Court, ruled in March that Pistorius’s appeal of the murder charge “had no reasonable grounds of success” and denied the appeal.
State prosecutors who lodged the appeal say Pistorius meant to kill Steenkamp and that the law graduate and model had fled to the toilet during an argument.
The hearing is expected to last all week with a sentence due by Friday (June 17).
Known as the Blade Runner because of his J-shaped prosthetic blades, Pistorius, 29, was granted 10,000-rand ($657) bail and ordered to remain under house arrest after the Supreme Court imposed the murder conviction in December 3.
Father of the late Reeve Steenkamp, Barry Steenkamp, in court where Oscar Pistorius, appears in the High Court for re-sentencing proceedings, in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, June 13, 2016.
But you haven’t. All this week, he is facing a sentencing hearing for killing his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
He said the pressure of an interview was not the same as testifying in court.
On his behaviour in jail, Scholtz said: “He was distressed”. He spent a year behind bars in Pretoria before being granted parole and released in October.
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Following his conviction, Pistorius lost millions of dollars in endorsements and sponsorships, a fall from grace for a runner who became the first double amputee to compete in the Olympics in London in 2012.
