A PSYCHIATRIST has dismissed the notion that mental illness is an excuse for stalkers to vent their frustrations on innocent women.
A PSYCHIATRIST has dismissed the notion that mental illness is an excuse for stalkers to vent their frustrations on innocent women.
Commenting on the murder of journalist Shadi Rapitso last Friday by an alleged stalker, specialist psychiatrist Thabo Rangaka said that only an evil person can act in such a violent manner.
Rapitso, 29, was stabbed several times in the neck by her alleged stalker, who lived in an apartment above hers in Montegomery Park, Johannesburg.
The man had wanted a love relationship with Rapitso and when she turned him down he threatened to kill himself. He is in hospital after stabbing himself several times in the chest.
"The likelihood is that such a person is not mentally ill. It's a case of possessiveness where a man wants to keep a woman for himself at all costs," said Rangaka.
He said stalkers who ended up killing usually carried with them emotional baggage.
"You find they may have had disappointments in their lives where they were separated from a loved person, be it a lover or a family member," he said.
Ken Resnick, a Randburg- based psychologist, described the alleged killer's behaviour as that of a person with low self-esteem and "sexually inadequate".
What makes a man kill for love
A PSYCHIATRIST has dismissed the notion that mental illness is an excuse for stalkers to vent their frustrations on innocent women.
A PSYCHIATRIST has dismissed the notion that mental illness is an excuse for stalkers to vent their frustrations on innocent women.
Commenting on the murder of journalist Shadi Rapitso last Friday by an alleged stalker, specialist psychiatrist Thabo Rangaka said that only an evil person can act in such a violent manner.
Rapitso, 29, was stabbed several times in the neck by her alleged stalker, who lived in an apartment above hers in Montegomery Park, Johannesburg.
The man had wanted a love relationship with Rapitso and when she turned him down he threatened to kill himself. He is in hospital after stabbing himself several times in the chest.
"The likelihood is that such a person is not mentally ill. It's a case of possessiveness where a man wants to keep a woman for himself at all costs," said Rangaka.
He said stalkers who ended up killing usually carried with them emotional baggage.
"You find they may have had disappointments in their lives where they were separated from a loved person, be it a lover or a family member," he said.
Ken Resnick, a Randburg- based psychologist, described the alleged killer's behaviour as that of a person with low self-esteem and "sexually inadequate".
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