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Oscar Pistorius is a volunteer caretaker at NG Kerk Waterkloof
Machines to detect ailments in prisons, Oscar court hears
There are machines in prisons that scan prisoners for ailments, the High Court in Pretoria heard in sentencing procedures of Oscar Pistorius on Thursday.
Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is comforted by unidentified supporter ahead of his sentencing hearing at the high court in Pretoria on Thursday, 16 October 2014. The 27-year-old Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated as a baby, was convicted of culpable homicide last month for the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters/Pool
“My Lady, the department of correctional services has moved on… we have a gene expert machine that indicates what ailments you have,” acting national commissioner of correctional services Zach Modise said under cross-examination from Barry Roux, for Pistorius.
He said there were a number of people in prison who suffered from various ailments, but that there were measures in place to protect other prisoners.
“It is not that anybody will be exposed to someone with tuberculosis,” he said.
“We have a regime to treat TB cases.”
When asked what protection was available, he said he was not aware of all the ailments but there were strict regimes in place including isolation.
He said they could not “mix people” who were sick.
Prisons had doctors, nurses, psychologists and security officials on duty day and night, he said.
On September 12, Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for the Valentine’s Day 2013, shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his Pretoria townhouse. The court found him not guilty of murdering Steenkamp.
Pistorius shot Steenkamp through the locked door of the toilet, apparently thinking she was an intruder about to emerge and attack him. She was hit in the hip, arm, and head.
Pistorius was found guilty of firing a pistol under a table at Tasha’s restaurant in Johannesburg in January 2013. He was found not guilty of shooting through the open sunroof of a car in Modderfontein on September 30, 2012, and of illegal possession of ammunition.
– Sapa
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