Marius van der Westhuizen's actions in shooting dead his own three children one by one, in the presence of his wife, indicated his full appreciation of what he was doing, the Cape High Court heard on Thursday.

Forensic psychiatrist Larissa Panieri-Peter told Judge Willem Louw that there was not even a hint of impairment of appreciation of what he had done.

Van der Westhuizen, a former senior police officer, is on trial on three charges of murder.

Panieri-Peter said the conclusion of the panel of forensic psychiatrists who had dealt with Van der Westhuizen during a period of observation was that there was no evidence of reduced criminal responsibility.

She described Van der Westhuizen as being of narcissistic personality, which entailed low self-esteem.

She said narcissistic people were grandiose and "bigger than life", but overreacted to criticism, and any feeling of abandonment impacted severely on their pride.

Any perception of humiliation made them profoundly angry.

She added that if one understood his personality in a compassionate way, one would say he had no self-esteem, but if one understood him in a non-compassionate way he would be seen as a controlling and domineering person.

She said Van der Westhuizen believed he had the right to check on people, to ensure they were doing as they had to do, but that this did not make for a happy marriage.

At no stage did Van der Westhuizen ever acknowledge any fault of his own in the marriage but always blamed his wife.

She told the court: "When the team asked him how he thinks his wife felt about the murder of their children, he could not answer. He is filled with worry and concern about what will happen to himself. On the night in question, whatever impairment he might have had did not affect his ability to understand right from wrong."

Anger did not result in diminished responsibility, she explained.

She said ordinary people would say anyone who shoots dead his own children cannot be in his right mind, but forensic psychiatry saw it differently.

The case continues on Monday.

Sapa