Sekgebetlela is suing government for half a million pula,Clinical psychologist, Claire Hearne, told the High Court that a clinical interview she carried out on Sekgebetlela showed that she had post-traumatic disorder.

Post-traumatic disorder is the development of characteristic symptoms following exposure to an extreme traumatic stressor involving direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury. Hamilton said it also includes experiencing a threat to one's physical integrity, a threat to the physical integrity of another person or learning about the threat of death.

She said that the person's response to the event must involve intense fear, helplessness or horror. The characteristic symptoms resulting from such exposure include persistent experience of the traumatic event, "persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness and persistent symptoms of increased arousal," she said.

The false diagnosis of HIV caused Sekgebetlela significant stress on both her emotional and physical level. Though her family was not evaluated, Hearne believes they also  suffered as a result of her trauma.

"Treatment options for post-traumatic disorder include two primary forms of treatment - psychotherapy and medication," Hearne said. "The most common forms of psychotherapy for this disorder are cognitive behaviour therapies and hypnotherapy.

"It is strongly advised that Sekgebetlela consider all the treatment options and be referred to a registered clinical psychologist. Treatment should last for approximately one year, on a weekly basis."

Hearne said the trauma and emotional distress experienced by Sekgebetlela since 2003 and the financial burden of seeking treatment warrant that "she seek compensation from the state to the amount of P570 000 as she has suffered damages in that sum," she said.

The defence lawyer, Charles Gulubane, said the expert's evidence should be corroborated by another expert to confirm that indeed the plaintiff suffered post traumatic disorder as a result of a wrongful diagnosis in 2003 at a government health facility.

Justice Key Dingake set a date, June 26, for the defence to bring its own expert to examine Hearne's evidence. Sekgebetlela was represented by Duma Boko as lead counsel, assisted by Uyapo Ndadi of the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA).