A South African court has finally ruled that South African
Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius is to undergo evaluation for mental
illness.
Delivering the order some few minutes ago, Judge
Thokozile Masipa ruled that such an evaluation would ensure that Mr
Pistorius would get a fair trial.
According to Judge Masipa, the
court would hand down the details of the assessment next Tuesday, adding
it would be "preferable" for Mr Pistorius to undergo the evaluation as
an outpatient.
The double amputee is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.
Pistorius inside the court room
The defence claims Mr Pistorius suffers from "general anxiety disorder".
Defence
psychiatrist Meryll Vorster Tuesday told the court that Mr Pistorius's
anxiety would have given him a heightened fear of crime.
Mr
Pistorius's lawyers have sought to portray the world-famous athlete as
almost manically obsessed with safety after a difficult childhood and in
the face of high crime levels in South Africa.
A BBC
correspondent says that Mr Pistorius could be evaluated for a minimum of
30 days at a psychiatric faculty as a result of the evaluation order.
Pistorius' uncle welcoming the judge's order
Legal
experts say that the case may well hinge on the judge's understanding
of the athlete's state of mind when he pulled the trigger.
They
says the prosecution is keen to show that the defence keeps changing its
reasons why Mr Pistorius fired his gun - from putative self-defence, to
accidental shooting, and now to something linked to his anxiety
disorder.
There are no juries at trials in South Africa, so the
athlete's fate will ultimately be decided by the judge, assisted by two
assessors.
Pistorius on his way to the court today
Mr
Pistorius's uncle, Arnold, welcomed the Judge's "thorough" ruling and
says it gives family "confidence" in the justice system.
He said that he was fully confident of the judge's commitment to a fair trial.
It could be recalled that the star sprinter claims he
mistakenly shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a locked toilet door
believing she was an intruder in his upmarket Pretoria home.
If
found guilty of murder, Mr Pistorius could face life imprisonment. If
he is acquitted of that charge, the court will consider an alternative
charge of culpable homicide, for which he could receive about 15 years
in prison.
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READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/66288.html
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/66288.html
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/66288.html
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