The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Pistorius begins psychiatric tests
OSCAR PISTORIUS has arrived at a government psychiatric hospital to begin mental evaluation as ordered by the judge at his trial.
Pistorius’s car drove through the security gates of Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital in the South African capital Pretoria behind a police van.
Judge Thokozile Masipa last week ordered that he be observed by a panel of four mental health experts for up to 30 days after a psychiatrist testified at his trial that he had an anxiety disorder that could have contributed to him killing his girlfriend.
Pistorius will be evaluated as an outpatient and return home each day.
He was ordered to present himself by 9am each weekday for tests from Monday for up to a month.
His murder trial has been postponed until June 30 and he is free on bail.
The Paralympian is charged with premeditated murder for shooting to death Reeva Steenkamp at his home on Februray 14, 2013 and has been on trial in Pretoria since March 3.
Prosecutors say Pistorius, 27, killed Ms Steenkamp, 29, intentionally after a latenight fight but his defence argues he mistook her for an intruder hiding in a toilet cubicle in his bathroom when he shot her multiple times through the door.
His psychiatric evaluation was prompted by testimony from Dr Merryll Vorster, a psychiatrist called by his defence, who said she diagnosed the runner with generalised anxiety disorder after interviewing him on two occasions at the beginning of May. Sony is joining forces with a state-owned Chinese company to make and sell PlayStations and games in China after the country dropped a long-standing ban on video game consoles.
In a filing with the Shanghai stock exchange, Shanghai Oriental Pearl said it signed a deal with the Japanese electronics giant, which will see it take huge shares in two new joint venture companies in Shanghai’s free trade zone. Emergency crews are searching for three people reported missing after a large mudslide struck in western Colorado.
The mudslide hit in a remote area of Mesa County near the town of Collbran, about 40 miles east of Grand Junction after heavy rains.
Rescuers raced to the scene but were forced to scale back operations after nightfall because the area remains unstable.