Investigating officer Hilton Botha, sits inside the court witness box during the Oscar Pistorius bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Olympic athlete Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder for the Feb. 14 shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The bail hearing continues.PRETORIA, South Africa – The lead investigator in the murder case against Oscar Pistorius faces attempted murder charges himself over a 2011 shooting, police said Thursday.
The prosecution said they were unaware of the charges against the detective when they put him on the stand in court to explain why Pistorius should not be given bail.
Police Brig. Neville Malila told The Associated Press that detective Hilton Botha – who gave testimony in the Pistorius bail hearing on Wednesday – is scheduled to appear in court in May on seven counts of attempted murder. The charges relate to an incident in October 2011, when Botha and two other police officers fired shots at a minibus, Malila said.
Malila said police learned Wednesday, the same day that Botha appeared in court to oppose Pistorius’ bail application, that the charges against Botha and the two others had been reinstated by the Director of Public Prosecutions. They were initially dropped following the shooting incident.
Malila said police were waiting for details from the Botha case file from the prosecutor.