South African former Olympian Oscar Pistorius was taken to hospital after suffering injuries while in prison, officials said Sunday.
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The correctional services spokseman did not provide any detail on the injuries, citing medical privacy concerns.
A security guard at the hospital told City Press: “He had bad cuts on his wrists and the doctors kept wrapping bandages around them”.
The 29-year-old double-amputee summoned warders to his cell in the hospital wing of his Pretoria prison with a distress call.
Following treatment, the athlete had been returned to prison, AP news agency said.
He was first sentenced to five years in prison on July 6 and could be released after three years on parole.
Anneliese Burgess, a spokeswoman for the Pistorius family, said there would be no statement on the action at this stage.
The model was in the bathroom when Pistorius fired four shots through the door.
Pistorius denied he had tried to kill himself, the spokesman said. The runner has always insisted the shooting was a mistake, saying he thought an intruder had entered his home and he feared for his safety.
The country’s National Prosecuting Authority said the sentence was “disproportionate to the crime” and could bring the justice system “into disrepute”.
Another inmate said the wounds had been inflicted by Pistorius himself around midday yesterday.
Following the sentencing, Judge Thokozile Masipa was branded an “embarrassment to the justice system” by a women’s rights group for handing down a six-year sentence for murder.
But his initial manslaughter conviction was changed to murder by the Supreme Court of Appeal in December, and his term then increased to six years last month.
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He has won six gold medals in the Paralympic games and competed against able-bodied athletes in the 2012 Olympic games in London.
