Oscar Pistorius not suffering from mental defect: Experts

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius didn’t suffer from a mental defect when he killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year, a 30-day psychiatric assessment of the athlete found.

Pistorius’s murder trial resumed at the High Court in Pretoria with Prosecutor Gerrie Nel reading from the report of three psychiatrists and a psychologist who carried out the evaluation to determine whether the double amputee is competent to stand trial for killing Steenkamp.

"Mr. Pistorius did not suffer from a mental defect or mental illness at the time of the commission of the offense that would have rendered him criminally not responsible for the offenses charged," Nel told the court, reading from the report.

"Mr Pistorius was capable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his act and of acting in accordance with the appreciation of the wrongfulness of his act." Nel had requested the as assessment after a forensic psychiatrist called by the defence said Pistorius has a generalized anxiety disorder that may have affected his actions when he shot Steenkamp.

Nel asked the court to send Pistorius for an assessment after saying testimony by Merryll Vorster, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of the Witwatersrand, suggested the defense was preparing a third explanation for the shooting.

Pistorius originally pleaded self-defense and later, under crossexamination, said he fired the gun by accident.