Pretoria - Oscar Pistorius’ family have raced to his defence to rubbish claims that he boasted to cops he would beat the murder rap he faces.
Pistorius has been charged with murder for shooting his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He maintains that the shooting was an accident.
The latest revelation comes in a BBC documentary called “Oscar Pistorius – What Really Happened?”, which attempts to piece together what happened that fateful night.
According to the documentary, Pistorius, 26, when told by an officer after he was arrested that he could go to jail for a “very long time,” responded by saying: “I’ll survive. I always win.”
However, the athlete’s uncle Arnold Pistorius, speaking through his assistant, said: “We categorically deny that Oscar ever said that.
“We had family members and legal representatives on the scene who can confirm this.”
The family have contacted producers of the programme for an explanation but had not received a response by Wednesday afternoon.
The programme attracted more than one million viewers and has now been uploaded on to YouTube.
Mike Azzie, Pistorius’ friend and business partner who had also been quoted in the documentary saying that the star was depressed and selling his belongings for legal fees, would not comment on the documentary.
“I will not be talking about Oscar anymore. This matter must now run its course in the courts,” he told the Daily Voice.
Meanwhile, despite attempts to relax his bail conditions, the embattled Olympian has no plans to travel or resume participation in international events any time soon, according to his camp.
Arnold says the application to relax the conditions does not state the Paralympic 400m gold medallist intends travelling.
“It’s merely challenging certain conditions related to him having his passport,” he said.
Pistorius was not determined a flight risk during his bail hearing but was still forced to surrender his passport to the court.
The application instead proposes that, if Pistorious wishes to travel, he will seek the consent of the investigating officer and will furnish police with his return ticket as well as an itinerary.
Arnold was responding to claims made in overseas papers that the athlete planned to holiday overseas before his trial.
Daily Voice