There's No End To The Drama

Nurses who are trying to poison him and injuries to his wrists from a fall – the Oscar circus continues.

- Gabisile Ngcobo

IF HE’S not trying to take his life, the nurses in prison are plotting to poison him and he’s planning to retaliate.

Those of you who thought the Oscar Pistorius drama was over now that he’s behind bars . . . well, you thought wrong. The Blade Runner circus still has plenty of tricks up its sleeve, it seems. The 29-year-old continues to make headlines even while locked up at Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre, where he returned after Judge Thokozile Masipa handed down a six-year sentence for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp (29), in 2013.

First it emerged the Olympian could be behind bars for a lot longer if the state has its way: the dust had barely settled after Oscar’s return to his cell when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced it did, in fact, want to appeal the sentence.

Then Oscar’s estranged dad, Henke, popped up to voice his unhappiness about his son’s legal defence.

Advocate Barry Roux should have listened to him, Henke (63) said – he had a foolproof theory about that fateful night that any lawyer worth his salt would have listened to.

Then City Press reported the athlete allegedly tried to take his own life and had been placed on suicide watch.

As if that weren’t enough, it also emerged in the same Sunday newspaper that Oscar had laid a complaint of attempted murder against three prison nurses, claiming they’d tried to kill him by giving him medication he insists was “toxic”.

FIRST things first: should Oscar be worried about the possibility of an appeal? Probably, says legal expert Llewellyn Curlewis. There are sound merits to appeal the sentence and the NPA may well be successful and see the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) hand down a sentence of between 10 and 12 years.