Transcripts For CNNW CNNI Simulcast 20141013

Sentence for culpable homicide in south africa. Lets bring in cnns diana mag nay. She joins us live now from pistorius. Diana, the sentencing could be a lengthy one. What could we expect to hear over the next few days . How does this process work . Reporter well, well hear both from the prosecution and the defense, zain, who can call new witnesses to the stand to debate whether or not he should be given a severe lengthy sentence or a more lenient one. That process could take a couple of days. Really because the bar for the witnesses is much lower in the sentencing phase than it was during the trial. Witnesses can be called who are relevant to any of three points. The culpability of the offender, the seriousness of his crime, and the interests of society. And thats why it may go on for some time. And once that testimony has been heard the judge will withdraw probably for a day and review the evidence before her, and then she will present her sentence. And that could be, as you say, anything from a suspended sentence with Community Service or home arrest, and it could of course be a jail term. A jail term probably not in one of the most notorious of south africas overcrowded systems where you have plenty of people in a cell and a sort of culture of violence certainly in many of them. This would probably be in a slightly more upmarket jail termed interestingly a center of excellence here. That is, if he serves jail time. And of course to add one more thing, once the sentence is handed down it could all go to appeal. So even though this is the end of a longterm trial its not necessarily the end if you know what i mean, zain. Yeah. So many moving parts to this. Is he going to serve jail time. Also if so how much. How does the fact that Oscar Pistorius is a firsttime offender, he showed remorse and he has a disability, how does that play into his sentencing . Those are definitely all going to mitigate against a longer jail term. But again, this really is up to the discretion of the judge and her assessment of the degree of negligence that he showed in the killing of Reeva Steenkamp. Because this is what it is. She proved that there was no evidence that he had had intent to kill reeva. So the sentence sorry. Weve just seen pistorius go in. Zain . Yeah. We are seeing pistorius enter into the courtroom right now. These are live pictures youre watching from pretoria. Oscar pistorius entering into the courtroom, where he awaits his fate on sentencing. The judge will give out his sentencing in just a few days. All of this happening right now. All right, diana magnay, thank you so much for being with us live there in pretoria. We appreciate it. This has been such a dizzying fall for Oscar Pistorius. Absolutely. Just two years ago he was at the very height of his career. Such an inspiration to a lot of people. Yeah. The first double amputee sprinter to compete at the olympics. Cnns robyn curnow worked as a correspondent in south africa and she met pistorius before his rise to fame. She talks about the man she knew before Reeva Steenkamp. Here she is. Reporter what i really noticed was this deep emotional attachment South Africans and the world had to this man. I thought in the first week of the trial there will be a lot of media interest but im sure it will sort of dip off. Strangely enough, theres been this incredible insatiable appetite for the story, so much so that people from brazil to beijing are emailing me and saying, well, what do you thinks going to happen next . Mr. Pistorius has been severely traumatized by the events that took place on the 14th of february 2014. I first met Oscar Pistorius i think it was in 2008. He was just coming to attention. He did embody south africa, the sense of somebody fighting hard, defying odds, trying to go to heights that were impossible. He let me come up into his bedroom. He showed me his different prostheses. Where was your leg amputated from . It was amputated midway. I was missing fibula, which is the backbone in the leg. This is the tibula. We then found ourselves as being the only organization with footage of Oscar Pistorius in his bedroom, you know, in that very room where he shot and killed Reeva Steenkamp five, six years later. So we had to go back and look through all this footage. And i really found that quite difficult oftentimes because he was so young and so sort of naive in a way and so full of freshness and a sense of where he wanted to be, and you could see a kid who just expected so much and wanted so much and wanted to give so much. And then of course this sort of complete opposite five, six, seven years later. The first time we as journalists saw him after the shooting was when he came out of the cells at the Magistrates Court in pretoria. He had this very blank look on his face, but you could see sort of this darkness that had overtaken him. And i think not just for me but i think everybody there sort of had this real sense of oh, wow, not only is this a huge story but this is a man whos changed his own life and of course taken the life of someone he says he loves. I dont think its going to impact the judge, the fact hes cried a lot and the fact hes vomited in court. Those emotions from Oscar Pistorius are and appear to be incredibly genuine. You cant fake vomiting and gagging like that over and over again. And ive sat a meter from him often and the physical gutwrenching reality of his feelings and his unitsing of the consequences of what hes done has been hard to watch and listen to these sounds of him breaking down. He knows fundamentally the life he had wont ever be there again. Robyn curnow reporting there. She has covered this case from the very beginning and it has been a case that really has captivated the entire world. Everyones been watching this. And of course a lot of pressure on the judge now. Received a lot of criticism that her sentencing or her verdict was too lenient. So pressure now on her maybe for a stiffer sentence because of that. Well have to wait. Harsher possibly indeed. Once again, the sentencing phase of the Oscar Pistorius trial is set to begin as we were just talking about at the bottom of the hour. Stay tuned for live coverage right here on cnn. Okay. Now, in hong kong clashes erupted a short time ago at the main site of the prodemocracy protes protests. Dozens of people who oppose the rally scuffled with members of the occupy movement. They have shut down key parts of the city for more than two weeks. Police intervened to protect the student activists. Our ivan watson is there. He joins us live with more of the details. Ivan, a very heavy Police Presence turned up pretty quickly. Are they still keeping these two sides apart . Reporter they are. They are. As you can see, this is the direction of the protest encampment and theres a substantial amount of police over here. This is one of the areas where there was a confrontation with these opposing the protesters. If we swing over here, ill bring you over in this direction, john. This is part of where the confrontation came from. This over here, i estimate there are 20 or 30 hong kong taxis in bright red with a sign identifying them as a taxi driver union. And what they tell me is the taxi drivers are fed up with the damage to their business that blocking off a couple of main highways to downtown hong kong is doing to them, and so they came in and basically wanted to push through the barricades of the protest encampment and open the way and they tell me they were trying from two opposite directions at the same time. So we have witnessed some of these confrontations, these altercations where the antioccupy demonstrators are hurling expletives at the occupy demonstrators, who respond by doing things like singing happy birthday or mocking them or applauding. And the unusual situation where the Hong Kong Police are caught in the middle keeping both sides apart. Weve seen some punches thrown but not a major example of street violence but certainly evidence of tension ratcheting up here in downtown hong kong as these protest encampment goes into its third third week. John. Ivan, apart from the taxi drivers there, do you know who else is taking part in these antioccupy demonstrations, if you like . There are some who described them as being pro beijing. Reporter i definitely saw a man wearing a chinese flag tshirt. There were a number of what appeared to be senior citizens, some who didnt speak the local dialect, cantonese, very well. So its very well possible there are some representatives of Mainland China here. And of course some of this is seen as a confrontation between some elements of Hong Kong Society and the party, the government in Mainland China over the future of this former british colony, over how it will conduct the election of its top official in several years time. And theres also certainly a generational divide. Most of the people weve seen come out criticizing the protesters tend to be at least 20 years, 30 years older than the 19, 20, 21yearold University Students who have been boycotting classes and holding this protest for the last two weeks. Were hearing some chanting. Well make our way over there. Heading further up the street to where theres some chanting. And ivan, youre going to look at that for us. Is it possible to know if this antioccupy demonstration, which seems to be under way right now, was it spontaneous . Why did it come at this particular point . Time . Was it organized by someone . Of course theres the conspiracy theorists. Go on, ivan. There was certainly there was certainly there was certainly some planning here, john. Excuse me. Im getting in the way of the police. Im messing up here. This is a truck that was brought in with the taxi drivers that has a crane on it that ripped away some of the barricades. So you have a standoff for the last however of some of the demonstrators holding a sitin around the dump truck to prevent it from being able to leave. So the fact that a dump truck came in, ripped away barricades at the same time as the two phalanxes of taxis, yes, that suggests that there was some kind of coordination of these antioccupy protesters here in downtown hong kong. Okay, ivan. We shall leave it there. But we appreciate you live reporting. For the very latest of whats happening on the streets of hong kong, ivan watson, our Senior International correspondent. Thanks, ivan. Ivan watson right there in the thick of it doing excellent reporting. From one demonstration to another. After a weekend of protests in and around ferguson, missouri demonstrators say a day of action is expected for today. About 2,000 people attended an interfaith rally in st. Louis last night to repeat calls for a white Police Officer to be charged for killing a black teenager. The demonstrators havent said what their day of action will entail. People in ferguson have been protesting since the shooting death of Michael Brown on august 9th. He was unarmed. Witnesses say he had his hands up. The police say he attacked officer Darren Wilson and tried to take his gun. Time for a short break here. But when we come back, concerns are growing now that a nurse has become the first person to contract ebola in the United States. Well tell you how Health Officials are responding to this latest case. Plus, whats it like to have isis militants right next door . Well give you that very perspective from the turkishSyrian Border as the battle for a nearby Syrian Border town continues. As ed lavandera tells us, an investigation is now under way. Reporter cdc Officials Say they will investigate what theyre calling a breach in protocol. They say this Health Care Worker, a female nurse, was wearing all of the protective gear, a mask, gloves, gown, everything that she needed, but despite all of that she somehow became infected during the time she was taking care or part of the team that was taking care of Thomas Eric Duncan before he died here at Texas Health Presbyterian last wednesday. This Health Care Worker reported having a lowgrade fever friday night, and then she drove herself here to the hospital. Cdc Officials Say they will be investigating just how all of this happened. That its critical. In the meantime, they will try to limit the number of people who have exposure to her, this new patient. They want to keep the number of Health Care Workers that have direct contact to the fewest number of people possible. So they will continue to do that. In the meantime they are continuing with the decontamination process at her apartment and the various places that she walked through coming here to Texas Health Presbyterian. And that work will continue as well as the calls for calm and explanation to people who live around the apartment complex not too far away here from this hospital, where she lives here in the dallas area. But really the main focus at this point is trying to figure out just what went wrong, how this could have happened, someone who was wearing all of the protective gear still managed to get infected. That is the number one question that faces Health Officials here at this hospital and cdc investigators as well. Ed lavandera, cnn, dallas. Yes, and protecting Health Care Workers from the disease is crucial to keeping this virus under control. All right. Another Health Care Worker is waging a battle against the virus. Teresa romero ramos is a nurses aide in spain. She contracted the virus after caring for a spanish missionary who died of ebola. Now, ed algaman joins us live from madrid. Were hearing nurses there are too afraid to go to work. What is the hospital doing now to reassure nurses . Reporter all of that is happening in this hospital. Thats where the two spanish missionaries who were working in africa got ebola, came back here and died. Teresa romero, the nurses assistant who now has the virus, is also in hospital here along with 15 others under observation. Hospital Officials Say yes, some staffers have take whaeb theyre calling psychological leave, not to come in to work. Other people that theyve been trying to hire have backed off once they found out what they were supposed to be doing. But they insist and there are multiple sources insisting they do have enough people to take care of the confirmed case, teresa romero, and also to check in on the other 15 people who are on a different floor at this hospital. Basically, since this crisis became public a week ago there were several days that many people described as chaotic in terms of response. The government is trying to get control of the message and really get on top of this. Theyve created a special committee that is now meeting daily. It includes a lot of medical experts, not just politicians. And theyre briefing people daily. But clearly the complaints were that even before in weeks and months before this crisis became public here, that nurses certainly had warned that the training and the equipment, i mean the suits, the gloves, and all of that was not adequate. And european Health Officials from the centers for Health Control visited this hospital for three days and among their initial findings was yes, the suits that the medical workers are wearing are adequate but no, the hospital did not have the proper infrastructure to be dealing with the ebola crisis. Zain . Lets also hope that miss ramos recovers soon. Thank you so much. We appreciate it. When we come back here on cnn, Tropical Storm vongfong is drenching japan. Well have details on where the storm is now and where its heading next. Isis appears set to overtake two key locations in syria and iraq. Now, those locations would be syrias kurdish town of kobani, thats near the turkish border, and iraqs Anbar Province west of baghdad. Local leaders in Anbar Province pleading for u. S. Ground combat troops to try and halt the isis onslaught. But senior american officials are still ruling out sending Ground Forces to the region, at least for now. Yeah, and right now u. N. Officials actually say there could be 10,000 civilians trapped in the city of kobani. And as isis forces try to take control of the entire city, we look at what it might be like inside kobani should isis succeed. Reporter if kobani falls to isis, theyll be turkeys new brutal neighbor along 100 kilometers of frontier. And nowhere has living next door to isis begun to seem so normal as in aqchakale. Isiss totem of fear truly enormous here. The Turkish Military are asking us to move away here. The isis flag so large, in such full view, so close to their positions. Boys say they know what to do if isis tried to cross. One older resident said off camera at least the civil wars violence doesnt spill over anymore since isis took the town of talabiat, about a year ago. Coalition air strikes have been reported here recently, but more visible is the humdrum of life under the selfdeclared caliphate. These fighters off to help fix a car. Girls play, uncovered. Women near the niqab. You cant see the fear isis rules with from this far away. These two men have come to the border, it seems, for a crafty cigarette. Smoking is banned under isis. So weve hidden their faces. We say hello. They wave back. We ask how life is. Good, he shouts. True, only to a point, as isis might kill us all if we crossed over to talk more. The turkish army arent happy. How could they be . Life here darkened, perhaps for a generation. Nick paton walsh, cnn, ackakale. Excellent reporting from our Nick Paton Walsh showing us life under isis. Switching gears. Tropical storm vongfong is battering japan right now. Its weakened from a typhoon since hitting okinawa over the weekend, and its been lashing the southernmost of japans main islands. There are at least 36 injuries to report from this storm. Tens of thousands of people who do not have electricity and hundreds of flights have been canceled. In short, it is a mess. For more lets bring in cabrera standing by at the cnn weather center. Whats the latest now and where is this all heading . This thing followed the entire ric huchlt chain here. To hit dead on okinawa was just quite something to see here. A tiny island. The storm, one over them. It is weakening as we speak. Its a Tropical Storm. It was a typhoon. Winds diminishing at its core. But as it moves through okinawa making landfall, 122 to 137 kilometer per hour winds, that pales in comparison to what it once was as it was further south when it became a super typhoon weakening as it moved through okinawa but not enough to prevent damage. The storm is now going to sxwraup head up to the northeast. And its going to do so rather rapidly. The upperlevel winds picking this up and that means were going to get some forward speed. Its going to be pushing this thing across the entire island, honshu anyway, headed up to the northeast in about 36 hours time. I think again the main threat here will be the rain, the ongoing rain as again most of what youre seeing here is high terrain. That is going to be an issue for the potential of flooding and mudslides and landslides over the next 24 to 48 hours. This is huthu, the other Tropical Cyclone that we were covering of course in the bay of bengal. Its weakening. The rain still ongoing here. But the wind as it roared ashore was quite something here. 215kilometer perhour winds. Show you some of the scenes. This is video coming out of visakhapatnam, but we just got fed in video of the area and i must say the damage is devastating. Vehicles overturned here. But the airport, some of the terminals are gone. Theyre just not there anymore. As a result of this storm here. So incredible damage ongoing over the last 24 hours across andrapradesh in visakhapatnam. Wind gusts of 192 kilometers per hour. Category 3 storm that would be the equivalent in the the atlantic. Main rain threat at this point. The threat for wind that is past us now, that is certainly good news, but its going to take a while just from the damage weve seen to recover from this thing. Guys . Okay, ivan. Thank you for that. Visakhapatnam. Yes. Good to know. Thank you. Thank you, ivan. Well take another break here, but when we come back, Oscar Pistorius returns to court for his sentencing hearing. Now its up to the judge to decide if hell go to prison and if so for how long. We are live in pretoria. Shopping online is as easy as it gets. Wouldnt it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple . Thanks to angies list, now it is. Weve made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. Buy their services directly at angieslist. Com no more calling around. No more hassles. Start shopping from a list of toprated providers today. Angies list is revolutionizing local service again. Visit angieslist. Com today. Aswhen i really needits reto get stuff done,at home. I hide in the laundry room. No one ever goes in there. A lawyer thats a monkey . Hahahaha. Also, the dryer sheets reeeally help my writing. Writing supplies. Oh. Number 7 of my 20. The amex everyday credit card with no annual fee. Thank you. Make 20 or more purchases in a Monthly Billing period and earn 20 more rewards. Its membership that rewards you for the things you already buy, everyday. Whats your 20 . Live to a courtroom in pretoria right now where the sentencing phase for Oscar Pistorius is now under way. You can see the court is in session. The judge is in the room. Oscar pistorius has arrived. Diana magnay is standing by live outside the courtroom. So diana, what can we expect in the coming hours and the coming days . Reporter john, this sentencing process may be slightly longer than normal. We will have the defense and the prosecution bringing witnesses to the stand to discuss how long a sentence they feel that he should serve. And i wanted to bring in here kelly phelps, our legal analyst, whos been watching every twist and turn of this case as its unfolded. The sentence will really depend on what the judges assessment of the degree of negligence that pistorius was supposed to have shown is, right . To a large extent, yes. Unlike in the trial portion of this and the verdict portion, where even the least degree of negligence is sufficient for conviction of culpable homicide, when it comes to sentencing we look directly at degrees of negligence. The more negligent the conduct, the more culpable the offender, the heavier the sentence is likely to be. Because this is what it depends on, doesnt it . A lot of people in the papers and a lot of South Africans that youll speak to say but clearly he intended to shoot to kill whoever was behind that door. But tass not what this is talking about. Because intent was basically ruled out altogether. Explain the legalities behind that. Absolutely. Intent and negligence are the dividing lines between the offenses of murder and culpable homicide. So because the judge found at the verdict stage that he did not meet the Legal Definition of intention, it therefore fell to be decide under the rubric of negligence and of conviction of culpable homicide. Therefore, for culpability, which is essentially your degree of blameworthiness, which is why that reflects on the severity of the sentence, we look at just how negligent the conduct was. If someone was essentially wantonly reckless, they are more likely to get a heavier sentence, and the state will be putting forward aggravating factors. For example, the fact that a firearm was involved in this offense. In order to try to convince the judge that this should be a heavier sentence. The defense on the other hand will put forward mitigating factors, things like the fact hes a first offender and hes a disabled person, in order to try to persuade the judge the other way, that it should be a more lenient sentence. And it could go from a jail term to just Community Service. Lets just talk about what might happen if he does have to go to jail. As you mentioned, he does, as we all know, have a disability. What are the options for him . South africas prison system doesnt have a particularly good reputation, lets face it. The prison system for disabled people is a particular challenge in this country. Many of the prisons havent been updated. So that the facilities dont lend themselves to people on prosthetic legs or wheelchairs. And that will certainly be a challenge for him. If they are able to, if theft ability, they may offer him a single cell instead of a communal cell, which often will be in a hospital facility, which will be more tailored to meet his disabled requirements. But having said that, it will still be a big challenge because the facilities themselves are not catered. And although the constitution requires the prison authorities to take account of his disability in terms of his treatment, oak only work within the environment and that environment is unfortunately rife with challenges. I think its worth pointing out here, we were discussing this earlier, the more upmarket prisons here, in fact prison isnt a word thats used anymore in the prison system. Its centers of excellence, yes. Prisons are actually a misnomer in society. Theyre referred to as either Correctional Centers or the more modern facilities are referred to as centers for excellence. And centers of excellence are essentially centers that have been designed around the imperative of rehabilitation and opportunities for the offenders to be able to reintegrate back into society in a way that will help them desist from committing crime in the future. But it is quite unusual to hear to what is essentially a prison referred to as a center of excellence. And your assessment of how long this process might take. None of this trial has been normal, has it . You cant expect other people to have gone through a process, to have had the number of witnesses brought to the stand. This has been out of the ordinary, not just because its been in the eyes of the world, a media trial, if you will, but nothing has been as you might expect, right . Absolutely. I certainly think both on behalf of the state and the defense, there were quite an extraordinary number of witnesses called, and possibly in both cases some unnecessary witnesses. So we may see the sentencing phase unduly prolonged as well if many witnesses are called to give evidence before the judge with regard to aggravating and mitigating factors. Having said, that i think strategically both sides would do well to keep it concise and focused and to the point. And in order to avoid risking essentially getting the ire of the judge up and her feeling that they are wasting time, they would do far better to focus her attention on what they believe are their strongest arguments in mitigation and aggravation. And then once she hands down her sentence, this could well go to the Supreme Court. I mean, it could all go to appeal. What do you think the likelihood is . And as well given the fact this has cost so much money to date to the taxpayer, to a certain extent is it a defensible thing to bring this up to the Supreme Court to prolong the whole process . Well, first of all, the state in terms of appeal is limited to appealing only on questions of law. So should they lodge an appeal it would need to be found that the judge essentially erred in her interpretation of a question of law rather than her interpretation of the facts. On the verdict. Whether hes culpable. Exactly. It would need to be that she misapplied the law. And i think its questionable whether there is an argument to be made in that regard. Even if there is an argument to be made, i think ethically its questionable whether this is a case that should be prolonged further. Many resources have been thrown at this case. It is just one of thousands of cases that the state has to pursue every year. And at some point i think a question needs to be raised whether this is a proper use of resources. A conviction has been secured. If both sides feel that the sentence is a fair reflection of that conviction, i believe ethically it would be better to draw a line in the sand and have the matter put to rest. And this has been a trial that has galvanized the south African Media to use social media. Everybodys been following the pistorius trial on twitter. To a certain xernths airreblthive of whats been going on in the courtroom, pistorius has been tried by the worlds media. Would you agree . Yes, i would agree. And i think its ban interesting experiment for the South African criminal Justice System because its the first time in history weve broadcast a trial live. And the explanation was this open justice that the public would have the ability to learn about criminal justice and see the process unfold. But i actually think in many respects it has been a cause of great misinformation when people have been commenting on it havent necessarily understood the legal context which was unfolding before them. So perhaps in the future this would give the criminal system pause and concern as to whether to broadcast again. And in fact in capetown at the moment were seeing another very highprofile trial occurring, the murder case of mr. Dewanni. And in that case the court decided ton allow the live broadcast of the trial because of this issue of trial by Public Opinion and trial through media. A curious coincidence that you have these two very highprofile cases going on at the same time. John, i want to bring you back in just to see whether there was anything you that want to put to the two of us as this sentencing phase commences with Oscar Pistorius in the court. John . Diana, just to bring our viewers up to date with exactly whats been happening inside the court, ill get to you in a moment, diana, but weve had counsel for the defense, barry row, also the prosecutor, the man known as the pitbull prosecutor. Theyve been going through a number of procedural issues, talking about the witnesses that they plan to call. Now, both the defense and the prosecutors have said to the judge that they hope to have this all wrapped up in no longer than a week. We have an indication now that this at least as far as the defense and prosecution are concerned, this should take about a week and then weve got to hear from the judge as well. And there is a lot of latitude as weve been reporting from the judge when it comes to the sentence, which she may hand down in this case. And maybe no prison time at all. And there is legal precedent for nap she may give him up to 15 years. Many people doubt that. So diana, while we have you, and were waiting for the first witness to give testimony, who we believe will be Oscar Pistoriuss therapist in fact, lets listen now in fact because she is actually on the stand. Were going to hear her. We cant see her, which is a request many witnesses have made. And then other sessions we had we could get somewhere. So it varied. But it was all aimed at trauma counseling . It was all aimed initially grief counseling. But it eventually went over into trauma therapy. With that in mind, dr. Artsenbach, if we turn to the next exhibit, this bbbb2, which is your report dated 1 october 2014, is that correct . Thats correct. Before reading it in do you confirm the correctness of this report . I do milady. You may then proceed. Clinical observations and impressions gained during psychotherapy with mr. Oscar l. C. Pistorius. Point one is preamble. I, lira marie hartsenberg attach my abridged curriculum vita setting out any qualifications and my field of expertise. The highest qualification obtained by me is a ph. D. In psychology, obtained from the university of pretoria. My doctoral thesis and my doctoral examination dealt with crosscultural trauma counseling within the context of domestic violen violence. I am inter alia a trauma therapist that has dealt with various forms of trauma during psychotherapy sessions in my private practice. Mr. Oscar pistorius was referred to me by a colleague who was aware of my work in trauma therapy. He was referred for grief therapy after the shooting incident resulting in the death of miss Reeva Steenkamp at his home on 14th february 2013. I also acted in a supportive and therapeutic capacity during his trial. I had my first consultation with mr. Pistorius on the 25th of february 2013. And i have been involved in consultations with him for the past 18 months. Prior to this i had no dealings or information with regard to mr. Pistorius other than that which i had occasionally read in the media. Mr. Pistorius and i had an agreement from the outset that i would not act as a witness in his trial. As his treating psychologist, im not involved in the merits of the case. However, with mr. Pistoriuss consent, i ultimately agreed to prepare a report of my clinical observations and impressions gained during my professional involvement with him over a period of 18 months. Two, clinical observations. Initially, mr. Pistorius presented with acute stress reaction. Icd code f 43. 0. Subsequently, prominent symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, dsm 5 301. 98 sxichlt cd 10 code f 43. 10. And depression were noted. I referred him to a psychiatrist, dr. Hat bosh, for psychopharmacological treatment. Mr. Pistorius is currently still under dr. Boshs treatment. Mr. Pistorius presented in therapy with feelings of guilt and remorse, often overwhelming him or restricting his affect. Frequently he was too emotionally drained for therapy to commence and sessions had to be rescheduled. He frequently spent sessions weeping and often had to exit or excuse himself from a session due to retching. This mainly occurred when recounting his sensual perceptions of the shooting incident. Besides the retching he presented with obvious physical symptoms of perspiring, pale pallor, trembling, pacing up and down, which are all typical signs of anxiety and trauma. Point three. Recurring therapeutic themes. 3. 1. Loss of miss Reeva Steenkamp. Mr. Pistorius was deprived of the opportunity to mourn the passing and loss of someone he loved immediately after the incident. As a result of the charge of premeditated murder as well as the everpresent media focused on him. He was saddened that he could not attend miss steenkamps Memorial Service and funeral. This would usually offer closure to a grieving person. X exacerbating his grief, it was recognized that it was he that was ultimately responsible for the death of miss steenkamp, resulting in unresolved guilt for him. His attempts to process miss steenkamps death and the circumstances that she died in has been an ongoing and uncompleted theme in psychotherapy. Although he did go through the expected stages of the grieving process, he kept on looping back to previous stages of grief, thereby remaining in an unresolved spiral of grief without resolution. This form of grief processing is also known as complicated grief. His initial shock and frequent crying defined the sessions at the outset. But was also present throughout the subsequent therapy as well as during this trial. He directed anger and blame toward himself, and at stages questioned gods grace and forgiveness as well as his own faith. His anxiety was noticeable and had an impact on his daytoday functioning, including his ability to eat and sleep. Throughout the therapy sessions mr. Pistorius expressed his longing for miss steenkamp and the void he experiences living without her presence. Mr. Pistorius has not been able to reach a stage of acceptance and healing in his grieving process. Mr. Pistoriuss remorse with regard to his role in miss steenkamps death was unabated during therapy sessions. His concern for miss steenkamps parents was awn remitting theme throughout our sessions with him. He found it distressing he could not make any personal and private contact with them to express his extreme sorrow and devastation at the loss of their daughter. The only opportunity he had to express this was as a result of miss steenkamps parents not wanting to meet him at that stage was in public during the trial. And then he was attacked. He felt that he was damned if he did and damned if he did not. Mr. Pistorius had a future planned with miss steenkamp to the extent he paid a deposit on a house that he wanted her to share with him. He had included her in his plans to accompany him to sports and business trips abroad. He lost his vision and his aspirations of building a future with miss steenkamp when she died, leaving him bereft. Point four. Consequences of the shooting incident for mr. Pistorius. The later of the charge of premeditated murder had a Ripple Effect nationally and internationally. For it played out on the world stage and on a 24hour Television Channel in south africa. This gave rise to numerous experts airing their views on mr. Pistoriuss character and the trial. He was often portrayed in an adverse light which perpetuated negative perceptions of him to the public, who rely on information from the media. This gave rise to a platform of abuse in the media and social networks that had a significantly detrimental effect on his emotional functioning and behavior before and during the course of the trial. The impact on his perception of self and his opportunity for healing was destroyed by the malevolent reports and public comment. Mr. Pistorius has acknowledged that hes essentially a lonely person who finds it difficult to form trusting relationships. As a result of his career path and the pressure of International Travel and fame. As a result of him standing accused of the premeditated murder of miss steenkamp he experienced the loss of the mutual friends he shared with miss steenkamp. This was particularly devastating for him at the time when he needed the support of friends the most. He felt isolated as a result of this. Mr. Pistoriuss fall from being an icon in world athletics who was revered and celebrated to being vilified and humiliated in some media reports and social networks had a profound effect on his identity of self. And though he was aware and appreciative of the positive support he had also received, mr. Pistorius experienced himself as utterly worthless. Devastated and guiltridden. This has resulted in the loss of his identity and selfbelief. As well as the loss of his reputation on which he felt his integrity was founded and judged by others. As a worldclass athlete and celebrity he had a platform to make a difference to other disabled and disadvantaged individuals worldwide, which was meaningful to him. He did this through his many different programs. For example, as an International Ambassador for sports for good foundation. He feels he has lost his voice to make a positive contribution to those disadvantaged communities he worked in and to the children with disabilities he was known to inspire. Mr. Pistorius felt that he worked hard to create this path of activism for the advancement of others. Mr. Pistorius has been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder by various experts. The effects of ptsd are such that the flashbacks and the reexperiencing of the shooting will be mental images he will always carry with him, making it difficult for him to escape from this. The symptoms of intrusive memories, attempts at avoidance, for example, places and people that remind him of the incident, with persistent traumarelated emotions, increased emotional arousal or reactivity, nope as hyperarousal, will be part of his life until such time as healing has taken place. Point 5, summary. Throughout my psychotherapy sessions with mr. Pistorius ive never found him to be anything other than a respectful, caring, and wellmannered person. Although he did at times show irritation and frustration, especially during the trial, this was not unexpected given the context within which this behavior presented. I never once saw him lose his temper. Even when provoked by others or during his severe crossexamination by the state. I did, however, find him to be anxious, at times suspicious and hypervigilant, always being aware of his personal safety. This behavior formed part of his symptoms of ptsd. In my involvement with mr. Pistorius i can confirm his remorse and pain to be genuine. Mr. Pistorius expressed that without the support of his family and friends and his deep faith in god he would not have been able to withstand the significant pressures that this trial has placed on him. The healing process and any form of cloernz that mr. Pistorius, for mr. Pistorius is compromised and damaged by the constant damaging attacks against him. He feels that this has been premised by inaccurate facts regarding the shooting incident. Mr. Pistorius expressed his horror at leaked photographs of the scene of the shooting. Viewing this as disrespectful to miss steen kam. And others who are close to miss steenkamp. The weight that the loss of miss steenkamp by his own actions has had on mr. Pistorius is incalculable and cannot be quantified. Added to this is mr. Pistoriuss awareness of the pain and suffering that the steen kam. And pistorius families have suffered as a result of miss steenkamps death. Mr. Pistorius is suffering from ptsd and major depressive disorders as diagnosed by dr. Bosh, his psychiatrist were now watching the opening of the sentencing phase for Oscar Pistorius, the olympian who has been found guilty of killing his girlfri d girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Were now hearing from his personal therapist, dr. Lore harts hartsenberg. She said she held sessions with him for 18 months, many of those sessions she just simply held him. All of this of course goes to his frame of mind and whether or not he has remorse. For our viewers in the United States early start is coming up next, and for everyone else we will continue to listen to the opening stages of this trial. His last friends a new case of ebola. This time contracted inside a u. S. Hospital. Shocking hospital officials in texas prompting the cdc to claim a breach in protocol. Concerns over possible threats on u. S. Soil from isis. The groups the government feels are targeted by the militant group and the chatter that has officials on edge. And 1,000 people in the streets overnight as protesters