Judge orders Pistorius to undergo psychiatric tests
Oscar Pistorius will start a period of psychiatric evaluation at a state institution next Monday, a South African judge has ruled.
Judge Thokozile Masipa said today that the double-amputee athlete’s murder trial at the High Court in Pretoria will be postponed until June 30 while he is observed as an outpatient at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.
Pistorius must attend the hospital at 9am every weekday and will be evaluated by a panel of four mental health experts. He can leave every day at 4pm or when allowed by hospital authorities.
Judge Masipa ruled that Pistorius’s period of observation will not be more than 30 days.
A psychiatrist had testified at Pistorius’s trial that he had an anxiety disorder which may have contributed to him fatally shooting girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home on Valentine’s Day last year.
