Oscar Pistorius Rushed To Hospital After Slitting His Wrists, Report Says

UPDATE: 7:08 a.m. EDT — Oscar Pistorius’ brother Carl reacted to reports that said the former South African athlete tried to injure himself deliberately. In a tweet, Carl said Pistorius slipped in his prison cell and injured himself, and that there was nothing serious.

Original story:

Former South African Olympian and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius was taken to hospital for wrist injuries, according to reports on Sunday. Pistorius is serving six-year jail term for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.

“He had to be detained Saturday afternoon at the hospital after falling off his bed,” Pretoria prison services spokesman Singabakho Nxumalo told Agence France-Presse (AFP), adding, “He’s back in our care now.”

However, an unnamed security guard at Kalafong Hospital, where Pistorius was treated, told the South African weekly City Press that the athlete sustained the wounds after he deliberately slit his wrists. The report added that blades were found in Pistorius’ cell during a search Saturday afternoon.

“He had bad cuts on his wrists and the doctors kept wrapping bandages around them,” the guard told City Press.

Nxumalo said he could not confirm the guard’s claims and dismissed them as “only speculation,” AFP reported.

Pistorius faced trial after Steenkamp’s death in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013, at his Pretoria home. The 29-year-old, also known as “blade runner” for running on prosthetic legs, maintained throughout the trial that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder and fired at her through a bathroom door in self-defense. However, prosecutors argued that Pistorius shot Steenkamp during an argument.

Initially, the South African athlete faced a possible 15-year jail sentence for Steenkamp’s murder. However, while announcing Pistorius’ six year imprisonment, high court judge Thokozile Masipa said considerable and convincing circumstances existed in Pistorius’ case to give him a lesser sentence. She referred to him as a “fallen hero.”