The case against Oscar Pistorius took another astonishing turn on Thursday when the lead detective investigating the case was sacked after being charged with seven counts of attempted murder himself.
It emerged that Hilton Botha, who had given an unconvincing performance in the witness stand on Wednesday, and two other police officers are accused of drunkenly firing shots at a minibus carrying seven passengers in October 2011.
The case had previously been dropped but the charges against Botha were reinstated on Wednesday, as he argued before Pretoria magistrates court for Pistorius to be denied bail. The long-serving officer is due to appear in court in May.
Botha appeared in court again on Thursday as the prosecution and defence traded blows over what happened on the night that Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. A decision as to whether to grant Pistorius bail or not is due on Friday.
The conduct of the South African police is already the subject of a judicial inquiry after officers shot dead 34 striking mineworkers at Marikana last year. With the eyes of the world now on the Pistorius case, the national police commissioner sought to regain public confidence and quell fears of a bungled investigation.
General Riah Phiyega announced that Botha had been removed from the case and replaced with Lieutenant General Vineshkumar Moonoo, whom she described as the police's top detective. She said he would be working with the head of police in Gauteng province to "put together a team that is formidable to do this job".
Phiyega told a hastily arranged press conference: "With the process of the bail application over, I, as the national commissioner, am appointing a new team to take the long haul process and Hilton Botha is not part of the team."
She claimed the police had been unaware of the charges against Botha until they were informed by the national prosecuting authority on Wednesday. "The matter that was being looked into, we were aware of it. He was on duty, it has been to court, it was withdrawn provisionally, we now have a decision and we will co-operate with the courts and look at the outcome and deal with it accordingly."
She defended Botha as a highly experienced officer of 22 years' service and said he was still a member of the police and had not been suspended. "We do not lynch people," she said.
Asked if it was sheer coincidence that prosecutors revived the charges against Botha on the very day he was in the limelight, Phiyega told the Guardian: "I wish I had a crystal ball. I would be able to answer that. We received the feedback yesterday and I wouldn't be able to address you on the coincidence … We will look at the decision and act appropriately."
She denied that the police had made an embarrassing start to South Africa's biggest criminal case of the century. "There is nothing embarrassing for the police. That is your judgment … Embarrassing? I know Botha. He is an excellent officer."
Botha told South Africa's eNCA channel: "I don't understand why [the] case was reinstated. I can only think this is linked to my work on Oscar Pistorius."
He added: "My blood was never tested for alcohol in the aftermath of the shooting. I wasn't drunk. We were trying to apprehend a second suspect in an office park murder. The taxi tried to push us off the road. We fired."
Botha was summoned back to the witness box on Thursday where he was questioned by magistrate Desmond Nair. Returning to the Pistorius bail application, Botha admitted he had not yet obtained telephone or financial records for Steenkamp, and was told by Nair that there appeared to have been a lack of urgency in getting them.
Earlier, during the bail hearing's third day, Pistorous wept as the defence advocate Barry Roux summed up his case. Roux said poor quality evidence from Botha had exposed "disastrous shortcomings in the state's case".
He argued that Botha had been selective with what he said and determined to bolster the state's case, but could not refute Pistorius's version of events.
Summing up the prosecution case, Gerrie Nel said the onus was not on the state, but on Pistorius to prove he should be given bail.
He asked if the international running star thought: "I'm Oscar Pistorius, I'm a world renowned athlete, that in itself is special" was an argument for exceptional circumstances, and said the he wanted to continue with his life "as if this incident never happened".
