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Investigating officer Hilton Botha, sits inside the court witness box during the Oscar Pistorius bail hearing. Themba Hadebe/AP

Pistorius back in court as lead detective faces attempted murder charges

Charges against the detective has been withdrawn and Botha said he thought their reinstatement was linked to his work on this case.

OSCAR PISTORIUS IS back in court in South Africa for the third day of his bail hearing over the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day.

The lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case is himself facing seven attempted murder charges for shooting at a taxi in 2009 to try to stop it, police have said today.

“We were only informed yesterday that attempted murders charges against Hilton Botha have been reinstated,” said police spokesman Neville Malila.

Charges were initially brought against investigating officer Botha in 2011, but later withdrawn. Botha told eNCA’s Karyn Maughan that he didn’t understand why the case was reinstated and that he could only think that it was linked to his work on Pistorius’ case.

It is not clear whether he will continue working on the case, though he told eNCA that he will stay on the case.

Yesterday, Botha’s evidence came under scrutiny from Pistorius’ defence team, forcing him to admit to multiple errors in the case, including not wearing protective clothing when attending to the athlete’s house, where the shooting happened.

Under cross-examination, Botha was forced to admit that Pistorius’s version of the early morning shooting last Thursday fitted the crime scene, weakening the state’s claim that the killing was premeditated.

- © AFP 2013.

Additional reporting by Michelle Hennessy.

Related: Oscar Pistorius bail hearing adjourned until tomorrow>
Front Pages: South Africa’s papers report Pistorius case>
PICTURES: Oscar Pistorius in court>

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    Mute Declan Mannix
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:06 AM

    Defense lawyers appear to be on the ball and on a roll. Making the prosecution look like amateurs.

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    Mute Olive Whyte
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:08 AM

    Sounds like this could be another OJ Simpson case, it will all collapse and he will walk free!!!

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    Mute Dave O'Shea
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:49 AM

    Oh ya left an opening there but I won’t ;-)

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    Mute PETER DALY
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:07 AM

    Yet another twist ….
    Truth is certainly stranger than fiction !
    One question : why have the charges been reinstated ? Bizzare

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    Mute Ray Dempsey
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:41 AM

    And this is only the bail hearing

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    Mute Sandra Turner
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:48 AM

    They were so sure they had him that they got sloppy. You can’t convict someone with sloppy evidence.

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    Mute Adrian Egan
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:24 AM

    I think this is a perfect example of how not to do an investigation. Take the time to gather all the facts first before making an arrest.

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    Mute Paul Nolan
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:05 AM

    Someone wants him off the case can’t really blame them considering how bad he was on the stand yesterday. Hope it doesn’t affect the case though sounds guilty to me.

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    Mute David O Brien
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:30 AM

    Unfortunately this case is mirroring the one in Mauritius – the scales of justice are strongly biased towards money and celebrity

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    Mute Sara Mooney McSweeney
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:50 AM

    What do you mean?

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    Mute Sara Mooney McSweeney
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:50 AM

    What do you mean?

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    Mute BcuTCM0P
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:52 AM

    I dont think the guys in Mauritius were rich or famous.

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    Mute Sara Mooney McSweeney
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    Feb 21st 2013, 7:47 PM

    Yes but they got off so I don’t get your point

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:20 AM

    This kind of stiff drives me mad..when the wheels of injustice kick in ….and instead of talking about how someone has been shot and died there’s media stories about a different incident ,an allegedly dodgy cop , a different event , no smoke without fire blah blah blah , real echoes of OJ on trial when we were listening to dodgy tapes of detectives being ” racist” and not concentrating on how the victim and her friend had been stabbed and murdered , I hope justice is done for that poor girls families sake , they are suffering a huge loss and now looks like they may have to listen to all sorts of crap that I’m sure they really don’t care about this other stuff as they come to terms with her murder / ahem..I mean possible accidental shooting….

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    Mute Anne Clarke
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:31 AM

    I agree. OJ Simpson came to mind yest when I was reading the coverage.

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    Mute Rory Mcloughlin
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:11 AM

    It’s not what you know it’s what you can prove and unfortunately the collection of on site evidence was rushed due to the presence of media. They’re making it easy for the defence team so far.

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    Mute Zonker Smith
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:52 AM

    Who in the Mauritius case had celebrity and money? Certainly not the defendants. Poor investigative procedures by the police MAY prove to be a link between the two cases, but I don’t get the comment as made.

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    Mute B9xiRspG
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:35 AM

    Hollywood couldn’t make this story up!

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    Mute Dave O'Hanlon
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:26 AM

    Actually its quite similar to a movie called ‘Fracture’ with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, that was released in 2007.

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    Mute Aisling Weir
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:17 AM

    I don’t understand how shooting at a getaway car in the middle of a crime chase can be attempted murder?

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    Mute Paul Carr
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:09 AM

    Let’s assume Pistorius is telling the truth. He shot *into* the house, without confirming where his girlfriend was located. He shot *into* a bathroom with the door closed, without confirming where his girlfriend was located. This guy should never be let near a gun. In fact, no civilian should be permitted to have a gun. Only law enforcement and the miltary. If you are a member of a gun club, then your gun should be stocked and locked and secured at the gun club.

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    Mute Declan Carr
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:20 AM

    It is strange why the comments are open on a court case especially a murder case. I thing there is a law on this, but not to sure if ifs only on a case here and England.

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:28 AM

    Declan , I think it’s because normally , here and UK etc the murder case would have to be heard by a jury and in order to prevent members of public who may become jurors from getting trial details by media then reporting details are restricted etc but as I understand it there in jury for South African murder only a judge , so I don’t think the more usual restrictions are at play here…

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    Mute Dave Hammond
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    Feb 21st 2013, 9:29 AM

    It should read No jury only a judge….

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    Mute Sandra Turner
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    Feb 21st 2013, 8:53 AM

    Think about it. Guy wants to make sure his attempted murder charge is forgotten about so he nails biggest celebrity for this. Attends the scene without protective clothing and could have interfered with evidence to get what he wanted. All theories but all the seem to.have is theories on pistorius based on possible contaminated evidence and ‘witness” statements from half a kilometre away. Oh and the fact he admitted shooting her.

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    Mute Aisling Weir
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:27 AM

    Imagine you are asleep in bed with your girlfriend. You wake up and hear a noise in the bathroom. What is the first thing you do? Wouldn’t it be wake your Gf, alert her to the situation? Or at very least check that she is still in the bed beside you? Check that the noise isn’t your Gf using the bathroom? In what twisted world do you, not check where your gf is, grab a gun, walk to the door of locked bathroom, never say a word, a warning to whoever is in the bathroom, you just shoot through the door!!!!

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    Mute Debi-Nikita Rathbone-Rentzke
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    Feb 21st 2013, 1:29 PM

    Aisling, Oscar was not asleep next to Reeva, he went outside onto the balcony to fetch a fan in. During that time she got up to go to the bathroom to have a wee.. Oscar then heard noises from that side of the room and thinking that Reeva was still in bed he shouted out to her to call the police, he then grabbed his firearm and hobbled on his stumps to the bathroom. Reeva having heard Oscar shout out in alarm, locked the bathroom door. Meantime Oscar thinking that someone was trying to break into his home shot four bullets through the bathroom door.. When he shouted out to Reeva and got no reply it then dawned on him that it was her in the bathroom, he then hobbled back to the bedroom put his prosthetic legs on and ran back and tried to kick the door down.. Unfortunately he was unable to , so he used his cricket bat to break the paneling in the door and unlock the door and found Reeva slumped over the toilet. She was still alive at that stage so he tried to stop the bleeding, he also phoned Netcare (ambulance) and a neighbour to come and help him. He then ran down the stairs with Reeva in his arms so that he could get her to a hospital. But unfortunately she died in his arms. Yes, Oscar is guilty of killing her… Of murdering her… No.

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    Mute Aisling Weir
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:19 AM

    I don’t understand how shooting at a getaway car in the middle of a crime chase can be attempted murder?

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    Mute Gary Maxwell
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    Feb 21st 2013, 11:31 AM

    I dont understand why you posted your comment twice under same name but two different pictures?

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    Mute Aisling Weir
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    Feb 21st 2013, 12:48 PM

    Because the first time it wouldn’t let me do it through twitter so I changed to Facebook. But then it printed both attempts to post.

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    Mute Jenny Caffrey
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    Feb 21st 2013, 3:46 PM

    Money talks unfortunately.

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