Pretoria: Former Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius and his family have denied news reports stating he attempted suicide in a jail in Pretoria, South Africa, where he is serving a six-year sentence for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Oscar had suffered injuries in his wrist and was admitted to a hospital on Saturday. According to reports, officers found blades in his cell after the incident. However, Oscar has maintained that he sustained injuries after falling out of his bed.
Carl Pistorius, the athlete’s brother, also refuted the reports about Oscar’s suicide attempt while calling them “untrue and sensational.”
“Jenna and I have just seen Oscar and he is doing well given the circumstances. He was in good spirit. I know that there are reports saying that he had tried to injure himself – they are completely untrue and sensational,” Carl said in a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday.
“He slipped in his cell and injured himself and nothing serious,” he said.
The double-amputee athlete was on July 6 sentenced to jail for six years for the murder of his girlfriend in 2013.
Pistorius also previously served one year in prison for manslaughter for shooting 29-year-old Steenkamp, a model and reality TV star. That manslaughter conviction was upgraded to the more serious offense of murder after an earlier prosecution appeal, leading to a new sentencing.
Pistorius shot Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet cubicle door in his home in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine's Day, 2013. Pistorius testified that he killed Steenkamp by mistake, thinking there was an intruder hiding in the bathroom. Prosecutors said he shot her intentionally after an argument.
