Oscar Pistorius arrived at court in the South African capital of Pretoria on Monday, for the start of a sentencing hearing which could see him face up to 15 years in prison for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
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Olympic and Paralympic sprinter Pistorius was released on house arrest last October after serving a fifth of his five-year sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
But following Pistorius’s culpable homocide verdict, prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal saying that the former athlete should have been found guilty of murder.
“Since the offense, he has developed a serious psychiatric condition which has become worse over the past two years”, Scholtz told the court.
Oscar’s hearing is expected to last all week with a sentence being announced by Friday.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned Scholtz’s assertion that Pistorius was not fit to testify, saying the athlete had managed to give a TV interview.
Nel said Pistorius had confronted one correctional services official, a sister Mashobane, at Kgosi Mampuru Prison in January, and banged on her table.
In his testimony in which he recommended that Pistorius should not serve further jail time‚ Scholtz said Pistorius was suffering from acute depression.
Scholtz said that Pistorius “takes some comfort” in the knowledge that Steenkamp is with God, and that the athlete, a known gun collector, had sold all his weapons and had sworn off firearms.
The original trial judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to pass a new sentence after hearing arguments from both prosecution and defence.
The court was told that Pistorius was on medication for depression, anxiety and insomnia. They argued that Pistorius meant to kill someone – even if he didn’t know it was Steenkamp in the toilet cubicle – when he shot four times through the door with no justification.
Nel referred to an incident involving Pistorius and a police witness, apparently trying to show that Pistorius was not a changed, remorseful man and could still be a potential danger to others.
Mr. Nel, a famously bulldog cross-examiner, was skeptical of the claim that Mr. Pistorius was too weak and lethargic to testify in court.
The athlete’s legal team is expected to call witnesses who will argue that Masipa should be lenient because of the athlete’s mental fragility, physical disability and good behavior during nearly a year behind bars for the original manslaughter conviction.
He became the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympics when he represented South Africa in the 2012 London Games.
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Prosecutor Nel challenged Scholtz on some of those claims surrounding Pistorius’ imprisonment.
