Media await Oscar Pistorius at court

Before 9am, around 10 outside broadcast vans were parked along Madiba Street, adjacent to the court.

Some passers-by momentarily stopped, staring at the media crews with their large cameras.

Anthony Musonza, on his way to work at a restaurant, said he would also be waiting for Pistorius to arrive.

“I have only seen him on TV. This should be my only chance to see him physically. I support him,” said the waiter.

Members of the Tshwane metro police were also nearby.

Pistorius will be back in court, after completing his mental observation at Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital.

The athlete was evaluated by four specialists as a day-patient.

On May 20, the court ruled that Pistorius’s evaluation would inquire if he was “at the time of the commission of the offence criminally responsible” and if he could appreciate the “wrongfulness of his actions and act according to that appreciation”.

Judge Thokozile Masipa said three psychiatrists and one clinical psychologist would evaluate Pistorius to determine whether his general anxiety disorder and his disability had an effect on him when he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day last year.

His attorney Brian Webber said on Friday they were ready to go back to court on Monday.

“I anticipate that we are going to complete our evidence [when the trial resumes] so it will probably last for a couple of weeks,” Webber told Sapa.

Pistorius is charged with the murder of Steenkamp. He shot her dead through the locked door of his toilet in his Pretoria home. He has denied murder, saying he thought she was an intruder about to open the door and attack him.

– Sapa