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Change Your Life! |
Now Cronje faces psychiatric depression |
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News |
June 22, 2000
CAPE TOWN (AP) - Disgraced South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje, who last week confessed to taking about dlrs 100,000 in bribes and gifts from gamblers, suffers from clinical depression, Cronje's psychiatrist told a commission of inquiry Wednesday.
The commission into cricket corruption, headed by retired judge Edwin King, resumed public hearings after a five-day break on Wednesday. Cronje, who read an opening statement last Thursday, was expected to be recalled for cross-examination.
First to testify Wednesday was Cronje's psychiatrist, Dr. Ian Lewis, who said Cronje suffered from seven or eight of the nine symptoms normally associated with depression. Cronje's symptoms include a sense of worthlessness, loss of appetite, insomnia and thoughts of death, Lewis said.
"I believe that Mr. Cronje was suffering from a major depressive disorder - in other words clinical depression," Lewis said.
But Cronje would likely still be able to testify, Lewis said.
"It's my impression that it would be better for him to have these hearings over with," he said, but he warned that Cronje may have difficulty answering complex questions and might suffer memory losses or become easily tired.
Depression treatment would take between three and four months, and Cronje's condition could recur, Lewis said.
The government appointed the commission after Cronje, one of the country's most popular sporting heroes, confessed to taking a dlrs 8,200 bribe from a bookmaker and sparked the country's worst sporting crisis.
Cronje's psychological state presented a problem, said King, who has to assess whether the cricketer has told the whole truth to determine whether he qualifies for amnesty from criminal prosecution under a deal struck with the state prosecutor.
Earlier Wednesday, the Cape High Court ruled in favor of three media organizations who had applied for the right to broadcast the proceedings.
King earlier had ruled that the hearings could not be broadcast, saying he feared witnesses would be intimidated.
The commission must present interim findings to President Thabo Mbeki by the end of the month. |