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Put Oscar Pistorius under psychiatric observation, prosecutor requests Put Oscar Pistorius under psychiatric observation, prosecutor requests
(about 4 hours later)
The chief prosecutor in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius has called for the double-amputee athlete to be placed under psychiatric observation, after an expert called by the defence said he had an anxiety disorder. Oscar Pistorius should be committed to a mental health institution for a month of tests, prosecutors will argue, after his murder trial heard from a psychiatrist on Monday that the Paralympian suffers from an "anxiety disorder".
The judge, Thokozile Masipa, has not yet ruled on the request by Gerrie Nel, who said he had no other option but to make it following testimony by a psychiatrist who said the Olympic runner's anxiety could have shaped the way he responded to perceived threats. The surprise turn in the case came as the defence sought to finally bring Pistorius's disability, and his associated feelings of vulnerability, to the forefront of its argument.
Pistorius has said he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp by mistake, fearing there was an intruder in his home, when he fired through a closed toilet door in the early hours of 14 February last year. The prosecution says he killed her intentionally after an argument. The first amputee athlete to run in the Olympics, dubbed the "blade runner" because of his prosthetic limbs, shot dead his girlfriend at his home in Pretoria, South Africa last year. He denies murdering Reeva Steenkamp, claiming he opened fire out of panic because he thought he heard an intruder.
The psychiatrist Dr Merryll Vorster said events during Pistorius's life, including the amputation of his lower legs as a baby, had contributed to his increasing stress. "Overall, Mr Pistorius appears to be a mistrustful and guarded person," Vorster said. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel is likely to make an application on Tuesday under section 78 of the criminal procedure act (pdf) for the 27-year-old to undergo a mental health assessment. If the request is granted, there could be a waiting period before he spends up to 30 days for observation, probably at Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital near Johannesburg, suspending the trial for weeks.
After interviewing the athlete earlier this month, she concluded that he had displayed escalating levels of anxiety through his life. She said she had also spoken to members of Pistorius's family, some of his friends and his agent. Nel he had "no option" but to ask for the assessment after forensic psychiatrist Meryll Vorster told judge Thokozile Masipa: "It is my opinion, my lady, that Mr Pistorius has an anxiety disorder. If he was afraid that there was an intruder, then certainly having a generalised anxiety disorder would have affected the way he reacted to that fear."
The defence team said at the outset of its case that it would show that his feelings of vulnerability and his disability contributed to his shooting Steenkamp. Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder and faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. The reaction of Pistorius in the early hours of 14 February 2013 would have been different to that of a "normal, able-bodied person without generalised anxiety disorder", Vorster added.
Vorster's testimony also dealt with what she said was Pistorius's fear of crime and how, because he was a double amputee, he reacted to perceived threats in a different way to other people. She noted that Pistorius's mother, who died when he was a teenager, slept with a gun in her bed and feared being attacked in her home. However, she said that this would not have affected his ability to distinguish between right and wrong and that it was up to the court to decide whether his anxiety disorder diminished his responsibility.
Cross-examining Vorster at the start of the eighth week of the trial, Nel asked whether she was saying that Pistorius had a mental illness and should undergo a 30-day period of observation, and whether he was changing his defence to one of diminished responsibility. "I think the generalised anxiety is relevant to the case," she added. "But the court will have to decide."
Nel asked her whether someone who was suffering from an anxiety disorder of the kind she had diagnosed in Pistorius, and who had access to guns, would be a danger to society. Vorster said such a person would indeed be a danger. Nel asked Vorster whether someone with anxiety disorder plus guns would be "a danger to society". "Yes," she replied.
Talking specifically about the shooting of Steenkamp, Vorster said Pistorius was more likely to have tried to fight what he thought was an intruder than run away, because his disability meant it was harder for him to flee. Pistorius was on his stumps when he fired four times through the toilet door with his licensed 9mm pistol. Nel's manoeuvre appeared to take Pistorius's defence team genuinely by surprise and be regarded as a tactical ploy. Some observers suggested the prosecutor is calling the defence's bluff by daring them to put Pistorius's mental stability to the test or withdraw it as a factor. Defence counsel Barry Roux said he would oppose the application.
After court adjourned for the day, Pistorius described the prosecution's request as a "joke".
Earlier, opening the eighth and perhaps final week of evidence at the trial, Roux called the psychiatrist to testify about the defendant's disability and how it shaped his life.
Pistorius was born without fibulas in his lower legs, leading to amputation at the age of 11 months. "He was too young to understand why," Vorster told the court. "His mother could not have comforted him because he was pre-language phase. It would been perceived as traumatic assault."
Vorster, who also interviewed Pistorius's close family and friends to compile her report, said the athlete's parents encouraged him to be normal. "He was never able to allow himself to be seen as disabled," she said. "He was always encouraged to be seen as being normal. Over time this could result in increasing levels of anxiety as the stress of appearing normal continued."
When Pistorius was six, his parents divorced, she went on, resulting in "drastic changes in his social circumstances" including financial problems. His father – who has been notably absent from the trial – was said to be an "an irresponsible and mostly absent parent".
Vorster continued: "It appears that his mother was a very anxious person and abused alcohol intermittently. She slept with her firearm under her pillow and there were frequent episodes when the police were called in to investigate noises she had heard."
Pistorius appeared to become emotional in the dock while his sister, Aimee, looked pensive as the psychiatrist said: "It appears that the children were not soothed by their mother but rather that they all developed features of anxiety."
Asked by Roux to elaborate, Vorster said: "The children were reared to see their external environment as threatening." Their mother "added" to her children's anxiety rather than relieving it.
When Pistorius's mother died from cancer when he was a teenager, the sprinter lost his only adult role model, the psychiatrist testified. At the age 21, with his star in the ascent and growing financial independence, Pistorius "broke all ties with his father". Soon after, he bought a gun.
"Individuals with an anxiety disorder work hard to control their environment," Vorster said. "In a way, his strict training regime and his diet helped him to alleviate his levels of anxiety."
The runner had an unusually strong fear of crime in South Africa, she added. "The safety measures he implemented at his home appear to be out of proportion to that of the general South African population ... His routine was to sleep with his bedroom door locked.
"He describes always being hyper-vigilant. He describes having had a sleep disturbance, waking often if he thought there was a noise or a threat. He was aware that he was a public figure and believed this put him at increased risk of being attacked or burgled ... Overall, Mr Pistorius appears to be a mistrustful and guarded person."
As questioning turned to the night of the killing, Vorster said: "When exposed to a threat, Mr Pistorius is more likely to respond with a 'fight' response rather than a 'flight' response as his physical capacity for flight is limited."
Pistorius felt remorse over Steenkamp's death, she continued. "He feels guilty and has developed a depressive disorder as a result."
The court adjourned early for the prosecution to study the psychiatric report, before more questioning on Tuesday and the formal application for him to be referred for evaluation.