Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands during his bail hearing at the magistrate ... more >The detective who testified against Oscar Pistorius and said the Olympian should not be granted bail now faces scrutiny himself — for an attempted murder charge stemming from a 2011 incident.
Detective Hilton Botha faces attempted murder charges for firing at a minibus, along with two other police officers, in 2011, the Associated Press reports. Detective Botha is due to appear in court and face seven counts of attempted murder in May, AP reports.
The murder charges come as somewhat of a surprise to Detective Botha. ESPN reports the charges had been dropped months ago, but police announced Wednesday they were reinstated.
“The [Pistorius] prosecutors were not aware of those charges [against Detective Botha],” said one member of South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the ESPN report.
With 16 years of experience, he’s a key witness in the Pistorius murder case. On Wednesday, he testified against Mr. Pistorius during the bail hearing, AP reports. But now an effort is afoot to have him removed and replaced on the Pistorius case — and some see an odd coincidence.
The NPA admits the timing of the murder charges against Detective Botha is “totally weird,” according to AP. However, South Africa police have removed Detective Botha and appointed a new detective to lead the investigation, AP reports. National Commissioner Riah Phiyega says Lt. Gen. Vinesh Moonoo will take over, effective immediately, AP said.
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Cheryl Chumley is a continuous news writer for The Washington Times. Previously, she was part of the start-up team for The Washington Times’ digital aggregation product, Times247. She’s also a 2008-2009 Robert Novak journalism fellow with The Phillips Foundation. She can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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