Judge Thokozile Masipa the presiding judge over Oscar Pistorius murder trial in the North Gauteng High Court, South Africa, has ordered on Tuesday, 20 May that the double amputee paralympic be sent for around 30 days psychiatric observation.  And the observation as ordered will be taking place at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.

Pistorius murder trial started on March 3, 2014.  Earlier, Judge Mlambo, the sitting judge, Pretoria High Court had ordered that the South African media companies could televise the court proceedings within 'allowable limits' .  The order took into consideration, according to the judge, the great public interest in the case,  'right to fair trial, freedom of expression and the open justice principle'.  As well as to ''dispel the ''negative and unfounded'' perception that the justice system in South Africa treated ''the rich and famous with kid gloves whilst being harsh on the poor and vulnerable''. 
 



Media experts had equated the highly sensational Pistorius murder trial with that of the former MFL player O.J. Simpson's (USA) 1994 murder trial.

In the early hours of February 14, 2013, Pistorius shot and killed his model girl friend Reeva Steenkamp in his upmarket Pretoria home is the case. He shot her four times through a locked toilet door. He argues he mistook his girl friend for an intruder. The state argues it was a premeditated murder. If found guilty he faces 25 years of life in prison.

He faces additional charges for illegal possession of firearms and two other gun-related charges.

Currently he is on bail on R 1million (INR56,3 lakhs).

Pistorius is defended in the court by advocate Barry Roux  and the prosecutor is Gerrie Nel.

In South Africa the trial is broadcasted live in a Carte Blance Channel -Channel199  . In addition to the broadcast the channel gives expert panel discussions on the trial as well as various matters the South African society are currently dealing with, such as:
  •   Crime in South Africa and what it means for country’s citizens 
  • The psychology of grief, specifically for those directly affected by violence
  • Guns in the Rainbow Nation
  • Disability in South Africa – from prosthetics to prisons, what’s the reality?
  • The psychology of fame and the  age of the superhuman athlete
  • Social media and its ability to shape the national agenda
  • The South African legal structure, with an emphasis on criminal law
  • Brand building of individuals, its impact on pop culture and its pressures
  • Families and the dynamics of ‘breadwinner’ finance in civil court

 Judge Masipa's 20 May order to sent Oscar Pistorius for psychiatric observation is a development resulted from his defense attorney presenting a Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Merryl  Vorster as a witness on 12 April 2014, Day 30 of the trial.  Vorster argued that Pistorius has been suffering from GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) a mental disorder for a long time and that might have a bearing on his behavior that led him to shoot and kill Reeva on February 14, 2013. 

The prosecutor attorney Gerrie Nel argued, ''Vorster's diagnosis and evidence was calculated attempt to make up for Pistorius' own weak testimony'' and he appealed that the court should get experts' psychiatric opinion on his GAD status and judge Masipa granted it.

You can watch the live court trial on 12 April here, 13 April session 1 here and  session 2 here


Ref:
star athlete – who shot his girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine's Day morning last year – possessed an intent to murder, under South African law

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/four-experts-to-examine-oscar-1.1690895

http://oscartrial.dstv.com/2014/03/05/the-line-up/

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/four-experts-to-examine-oscar-1.1690895