Oscar Pistorius Detective faces, seven counts of attempted murder

What was supposed to be a simple bail hearing, took on the makings of a full-blown trial.

Oscar Pistorius’s Detective, is facing murder charges.

Oscar Pistorius case is turing into a web. Police Brigadier, Neville Malila, said that Detective Hilton Bothafor, is scheduled to appear in court, in May, on seven counts of attempted murder for an October 2011 shooting.

The disclosure deepened questioning that surrounded Detective, Hilton Botha, who, under cross-examination at a bail hearing on Wednesday, was forced to concede that he could not rule out, Mr. Pistorius’s, own version of events based on the existing evidence. With a remarkable twist, the double-amputee Olympian’s claim that he accidentally killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who turned 29-years-old a week ago, the track star himself said he opened fire, thinking there was an intruder in his home, which is situated in a gated community, and had no intention of killing her.

Pistorius faces a charge of premeditated murder.

Detective Botha’s often confused testimony left prosecutors rubbing their heads in frustration as he misjudged distances and said testosterone – banned for professional athletes in some cases – was found at the scene, only to be later contradicted by the prosecutor’s office.

It was revealed that Oscar Pistorius’s prosecutors, were not aware of the charges against, Detective Botha. Simasiku, of the National Prosecution Agency said, “We are calling up the information so we can get the details of the case. From there, we can take action and decide whether he is removed from the investigation or if he will remain.”

Police Brigadier, Neville Malila said, Detective Botha and two other police officers, fired shots while trying to stop a mini-van, containing seven people, in the incident. The charges were initially dropped, but police said they only learned Wednesday, that the charges had been reinstated.

The case had initially been dropped but was reinstated on Wednesday at the insistence of the state prosecutor, even as, Detective Botha, was appearing as the lead police witness in the prosecution’s attempt to prevent Mr. Pistorius from securing bail.

Detective Botha, has sixteen years’ experience as a detective and twenty four years with the South African Police Service.

Testimony by ,Detective Botha, left prosecutors rubbing their temples, and only able to look down at their notes, as he misjudged distances and acknowledged that a forensics team, left one of the bullet slugs fired at, Reeva Steenkamp, in the toilet bowl .

Oscar Pistorius returned to court on Thursday for further arguments about whether he should be granted bail, in a case that has riveted South Africa and fascinated a wider audience around the world, reflecting Oscar Pistorius’s status, as one of the world’s most renowned athletes, whose distinctive carbon-fiber running blades, have given him the nickname Blade Runner.

However, Detective Botha, still poked holes in Oscar Pistorius’ own account that he feared for his life, and opened fired on Valentine’s Day, after mistaking Steenkamp for an intruder.

Wednesday, what was supposed to be a simple bail hearing, took on the proportions of a full-blown trial, with sharp questions from the presiding magistrate, Desmond Nair, and a diminishing cross-examination that left Detective Botha, grasping for answers that did not contradict his earlier testimony.

However, Detective Botha later said under cross-examination, that the person who overheard the argument was in a house more than six hundred and fifty yards away, from where the shooting occurred, or more than two thousand feet or four city blocks away within, Oscar Pistorius’, gated community in the suburbs of South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.

Barry Roux, Oscar Pistorius’s lawyer, said Detective Botha was forced to acknowledge sloppy police work, and he eventually conceded that he could not rule out Oscar Pistorius’s version of events, based on the existing evidence. Mr. Roux, accused the prosecution of selectively taking “every piece of evidence” and trying “to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court.”

“It is an herbal remedy,” Mr. Roux said. “It is not a steroid, and it is not a banned substance.”

Detective Botha said, “I believe that he knew that Reeva Steenkamp was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door.”

Officers also discovered .38-caliber pistol rounds in a safe. Detective Botha said Oscar Pistorius owned the pistol illegally, and would be charged with a crime. However, Detective Botha, also acknowledged that investigators didn’t take photographs of the ammunition and let Oscar Pistorius’ supporters at the crime scene take them away.