The police officer leading the Oscar Pistorius case has been summoned by the magistrate after it emerged he has been charged with seven counts of attempted murder from 2011.
Hilton Botha and two other officers reportedly opened fire on seven passengers in a taxi mini-bus in an attempt to stop it. It is alleged that the officers, who were on duty at the time, were drunk.
They were arrested after the event in October 2011 and charges were initially dropped but were reinstated by the state prosecutor in the days before the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp.
Pistorius arrived in court for the third day of the bail hearing and hopes to find out today whether he will be remanded in custody until his murder trial.
Oscar Pistorius arrives at court for the third day of his bail hearing The hearing was adjourned briefly after the magistrate summoned Botha to the courtroom. However, he was only asked to clarify whether he had examined the mobile phone records of Pistorius and Miss Steenkamp in the hours surrounding the shooting incident.
Prosecutors have said that it is up to police to decide whether to drop Botha from the investigation, however, police are insisting that at present he is still involved in the case.
An earlier report from Eyewitness News had quoted a National Prosecuting Authority spokesman as saying that Botha "cannot continue with this case".
Neville Malila said they had bolstered the investigation team Botha only discovered the charges against him had been reinstated yesterday. He is set to appear in court in May but police plan to keep him on the Pistorius murder case.
The South African Police Service has confirmed the charges against the detective and launched an investigation which may see Botha suspended.
Spokesman Neville Malila said: "We were only informed yesterday that attempted murders charges against Hilton Botha have been reinstated."
He said that Botha remained on the Pistorius case and that the charges would not hamper Botha's investigation into the circumstances of the Valentine's Day shooting at Pistorius' Silver Lakes home.
Hilton Botha arrives at court to give evidence at Pistorius' bail hearing But he added that they had bolstered the team investigating the alleged murder of Miss Steenkamp.
It is unclear why the charges against Botha were reinstated. He denies being drunk and has told a South African news channel that he was chasing suspects.
Medupe Simasiku, the spokesman for National Prosecution Agency, said: "The (Pistorius) prosecutors were not aware of those charges (against Botha)."
Oscar Pistorius is due to find out whether he will be granted bail Under cross-examination during Pistorius' bail hearing, Botha was accused of contaminating the crime scene in the paralympic star's home and backtracked on key details, including the distance of witnesses from the house.
In his often confused testimony, Botha, who was described as a 24-year police veteran with 16 years as a detective, conceded that police had left a 9 mm slug from the shots that killed Miss Steenkamp inside a toilet at the scene.
Police also lost track of illegal ammunition found inside the house, Botha said, and the detective himself walked through the crime scene without wearing protective shoe covers, potentially contaminating the area.
He also claimed in court that police found boxes of testosterone and needles in multiple Paralympic champion Pistorius' bedroom following the Valentine's Day shooting last week, but then said later he wasn't sure what the exact name of the substance was.
The lead defence counsel Barry Roux accused the police of oversights and mistakes on their initial investigation.
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