Oscar Pistorius’ uncle has cast doubt on the prospect of the Paralympian competing at the World Championships by insisting his nephew has “no intention” of travelling.
Arnold Pistorius says the 26-year-old is still heavily reliant on the support of his family as he comes to terms with the events that saw him fatally shoot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day after mistaking her for an intruder.
After being granted bail last month, Pistorius’ legal team were back in court on Thursday to challenge some of the conditions of his release.
During the hearing, travel restrictions placed on Pistorius were lifted, meaning he is now free to travel abroad for competitions ahead of the trial for killing his girlfriend..
The announcement gave way to immediate speculation that Pistorius could return to the track at this summer’s World Championships in Moscow this August.
Athletics’ world governing body the IAAF was swift to give a tentative green light to such a prospect by stating that Pistorius would be regarded as “innocent until proven guilty” and “free to run” were he to achieve the qualifying standard.
But speaking to Sky News this evening, Arnold Pistorius indicated that thoughts of a comeback were far from uppermost in the mind of his nephew, who is likely to stand trial before the end of the year and is next due in court on June 4.
“We know Oscar cannot go anywhere in the world because everybody will recognise him. He doesn’t want to go anywhere and he doesn’t want to go into public life because he’s not ready – he’s absolutely not ready to do that,” Arnold Pistorius said.
“Oscar’s got no intention to travel overseas now – he needs his family. I can’t see him getting along without the support of his family.”
Pressed further on whether his nephew could return to the track soon, he replied: “Not in the near future. Not realistic. I don’t think so.”
Arnold Pistorius admitted, however, that it was only a matter of time before Oscar would have to return to the track if he is to retain any chance of competing on the global stage.
“In the future, perhaps yes. I would like to say that,” he said.
“Knowledgeable people tell me that if a super athlete doesn’t train for a year, he’ll never get back to what he was, so we tried to convince him to get back into training.
“He knows that he’ll have to do that. If he ever wants to run again he’ll have to get back to training, otherwise he will just not be able to get back on track.”
Pistorius, a double amputee and six-time Paralympic champion, claims he shot Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder in his Pretoria home, although prosecutors in the case maintain his actions amounted to premeditated murder.
He was released on bail last month but in return was ordered to hand over his two South African passports, stay away from his Pretoria residence and all witnesses in the case, abstain from alcohol and report to a local police station twice a week.
His lawyer Barry Roux today asked for those conditions to be relaxed, with Judge Bert Bam granting the request.
However, Pistorius must meet certain conditions to be allowed to travel abroad. They include providing an itinerary of his plans at least a week before he is due to leave the country.
Pressed on why Pistorius’ legal team was keen for the return of his passports if he was unlikely to travel overseas, Arnold Pistorius said: “It was a legal point.”
Discussing the appeal against the bail conditions more widely, he added: “He doesn’t want to take a blood test every Friday and those kinds of things.
“He doesn’t want to be treated as a criminal because he’s not a criminal – he’s good-natured, soft-hearted, and he’s got a broken heart at the moment.
“What is worse then losing someone you love and you have been the instrument? It’s unthinkable.”
Arnold Pistorius added that his nephew retained the full backing of his family, and lifted the lid on the emotional turmoil experienced by the pin-up boy of South African athletics over the past few weeks.
“We know the facts and we know exactly what was going on because Oscar’s not a liar. We trust what he said to us. It was a terrible, terrible mistake,” he said.
“He’s taking it day by day. Some days we think he’s sort of surviving but then the next day just falls back into trying to cope with the facts, which is tough.
“We support him, we want to rebuild him. We want to get something back of the old Oscar we had in the past.
“He’s devastated. He’s in bad shape. What do you do? You cannot undo it.
“Every morning you wake up, the nightmare wasn’t a nightmare.”
