Interview: Transcript of Brian Mitchell's Testimony

Abstract

My initial impression of Brian Mitchell early in 1999 was of a defended individual presenting a somewhat rigid picture of what transpired when he gave the fateful command to attack the household in Trust Feeds in the Kwazulu/Natal midlands. His report tended to avoid some of the emotional consequences of his actions. He accepted responsibilityand was accurate in his depictions, but the timbres and nuances which psychologists are wont to grapple withwere essentially missing. Having interacted with some perpetrators, including those who had violated me, I felt impelled to invite Brian Mitchell to share what he had experienced and what he was at the time confronting. He accepted my invitation to an open-ended interviewin front of a diverse gathering of psychologists from nearly every comer of the globe at last year's IUPsyS Africa Regional Congress (which was co-sponsored by the IAAP, IACCP and PsySSA). This is a transcript of that interaction, which may provide other insights.