Prior to the murder of Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013, Pistorius was the country’s foremost Paralympian.
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According to reports, officers found blades in his cell after the incident. Prison nurses described Pistorius as “violent” and suggested that he may have been planning to overdose on the pills in a suicide attempt.
Correctional Services’ Manelisi Wolela has also dismissed the reports.
South African athlete and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has returned to his cell after being treated in hospital for injuries from a fall, prison officials said Sunday, as his brother denied claims he had deliberately hurt himself.
“Jenna and I have … seen Oscar and he is doing well under the circumstances”.
Oscar Pistorius was hospitalized with “minor” injuries to his wrists, South Africa’s City Press reports.
Singabakho Nxumalo, a spokesman for the correctional services department, said on Sunday that Pistorius told officials that he suffered injuries after falling out of bed.
Pistorius and his longtime coach, Ampie Louw, said before Steenkamp’s killing they wanted to retire together at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which kicked off this Friday. He said Pistorius’ cell was searched in the past following allegations of preferential treatment.
“Oscar Pistorius denied speculations of a suicide attempt”, Mr Wolela said.
He said policy prohibits him from providing any further details about the inmate.
“He is in a hospital wing of the prison in a single cell and is closely monitored”, he said. That manslaughter conviction was upgraded to the more serious offense of murder after an earlier prosecution appeal, leading to a new sentencing.
The double-amputee athlete, who was sentenced on July 6, could be released on parole after three years. Last month, the National Prosecuting Authority announced that they would appeal the six-year sentence, saying that it was “shockingly lenient”.
Pistorius shot Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine’s Day, 2013. Prosecutors said that he shot her intentionally after an argument.
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A four-times Paralympic victor, he also won a court battle to become the first double-amputee athlete to compete with able-bodied runners at the Olympic games in London in 2012.
