The murder trial for 27-year-old South African Olympic / Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius will once again begin on Monday, after he finishes his 30-day psychiatric assessment.
A background on the case: Pistorius is on trial for fatally shooting his girlfriend, model and domestic violence campaigner Reeva Steenkamp, in his Pretoria home on February 14, 2013. He denied the murder, saying that he only shot Steenkamp because he was protecting himself from what he thought was an intruder.
One of the things that has been highlighted in the previous trials include the WhatApp messages between Pistorius and Steenkamp. In one conversation, Steenkamp told Pistorius: "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me."
The Week UK reported that majority of the messages showed a loving relationship, but some were dark: "Particularly difficult for the defence was a message from Steenkamp claiming that she was 'scared' of Pistorius and upset about his 'jealous tantrums'. The prosecution claims the message adds weight to its theory that Steenkamp had fled to the toilet and locked herself in because she was scared after an argument with Pistorius.
Defence witness Dr Meryl Vorster told the judge that it's possible Pistorius has an anxiety disorder. The athlete has had a number of emotional breakdowns in court, so the judge ordered a 30-day mental health evaluation at the Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.
The Daily Record reported that there could be three possible outcomes of Pistorius's mental evaluation: (1) He was mentally incapacitated when he shot Steenkamp--" This could lead the trial to collapse and would potentially see him being committed to a mental institution until he is no longer ruled to be dangerous."
(2) The court may find him to have diminished responsibility, which would mean that the trial would push through, "but it would have to be taken into consideration if he was found guilty," and (3) the experts will all agree with the defense psychiatrist.
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