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| Pistorius Was Not Mentally Ill at Time of Shooting, Psychiatrists Report | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| LONDON — The South African track star Oscar Pistorius was not mentally ill when he shot and killed his girlfriend last year, according to a psychiatric assessment that was conducted as part of his murder trial, news agencies reported Monday. | |
| The announcement came as Mr. Pistorius’s trial resumed in Pretoria, the South African capital, after weeks of psychiatric assessments of his mental health when he killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. | |
| Psychiatrists who examined the Olympic and Paralympic athlete informed Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa of the findings, which could determine the course of the trial. | |
| The trial was adjourned in mid-May after Dr. Merryll Vorster, a forensic psychiatrist testifying for the defense, told the court that Mr. Pistorius had a general anxiety disorder. The lead prosecutor, Gerrie Nel, immediately demanded that Mr. Pistorius undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Mr. Pistorius was assessed as an outpatient at the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in Pretoria. | |
| Mr. Pistorius, 27, is accused of the premeditated murder of Ms. Steenkamp, 29, but he has denied the charge, saying he believed he was in peril from at least one intruder when he fired four rounds from a handgun into the locked door of a toilet cubicle at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013. | Mr. Pistorius, 27, is accused of the premeditated murder of Ms. Steenkamp, 29, but he has denied the charge, saying he believed he was in peril from at least one intruder when he fired four rounds from a handgun into the locked door of a toilet cubicle at his home in Pretoria in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013. |
| Only when he smashed through the door with a cricket bat, he has said, did he realize that Ms. Steenkamp was inside. | Only when he smashed through the door with a cricket bat, he has said, did he realize that Ms. Steenkamp was inside. |
| Mr. Pistorius’s anxiety, Dr. Vorster said, dated to the amputation of both legs below the knee when he was 11 months old after he was born without fibula bones. Mr. Pistorius’s development was also influenced, the psychiatrist said, by a frequently absent father and a mother who was so worried about intruders entering her home that she slept with a firearm under her pillow. | |
| The athlete’s condition, which worsened with time, made him “hypervigilant” about potential threats and led him to respond to perceived danger with reflexes of “fight” rather than “flight,” Dr. Vorster said. | The athlete’s condition, which worsened with time, made him “hypervigilant” about potential threats and led him to respond to perceived danger with reflexes of “fight” rather than “flight,” Dr. Vorster said. |
| In the United States and elsewhere, psychiatric assessments are often used by the defense to establish diminished responsibility — and therefore limited culpability. But in the Pistorius case, the prosecution sought the examination to challenge the defense’s contention that psychological factors buttressed the case for acquittal or leniency. | In the United States and elsewhere, psychiatric assessments are often used by the defense to establish diminished responsibility — and therefore limited culpability. But in the Pistorius case, the prosecution sought the examination to challenge the defense’s contention that psychological factors buttressed the case for acquittal or leniency. |
| Judge Masipa ordered the panel of mental health experts to determine whether Mr. Pistorius was “capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act or acting in accordance with appreciation of the wrongfulness of his act” when he opened fire. | Judge Masipa ordered the panel of mental health experts to determine whether Mr. Pistorius was “capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act or acting in accordance with appreciation of the wrongfulness of his act” when he opened fire. |
| Two South African lawyers not connected with the case said the country’s Criminal Procedure Act stipulated that defendants found to have a mental disorder or defect that rendered them unable to distinguish between right and wrong at the time of an offense must be committed indefinitely to a mental hospital. | Two South African lawyers not connected with the case said the country’s Criminal Procedure Act stipulated that defendants found to have a mental disorder or defect that rendered them unable to distinguish between right and wrong at the time of an offense must be committed indefinitely to a mental hospital. |
| Mr. Pistorius faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 25-years if convicted of premeditated murder, but he could face a shorter sentence on a lesser charge of culpable homicide. | Mr. Pistorius faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 25-years if convicted of premeditated murder, but he could face a shorter sentence on a lesser charge of culpable homicide. |