Pistorius not considered flight risk, granted bail Paralympic icon Oscar Pistorius was yesterday granted bail by a South African magistrate, pending a high-profile trial for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius 'too famous to flee bail', lawyers claim Oscar Pistorius will continue his fight for bail in the fourth day of a dramatic court hearing. Latest Family of missing year-old concerned for her welfare For once, the leading man fluffed his big line Astroworld festival crowd crush claims another life Defence rests case in trial of Kyle Rittenhouse over shooting deaths.
She denied that the decision to replace Det Botha was embarrassing for the police. He has not been suspended and could remain a potential witness in any trial. The BBC's Pumza Fihlani, in Pretoria, says the claims against Det Botha refer to a incident in which he and several other officers allegedly opened fired on a minibus taxi carrying seven passengers when the driver apparently disobeyed an order to stop.
The detective is expected to appear in court in May, reports say. In court on Thursday, defence and prosecution lawyers offered their final arguments.
The magistrate is expected to issues his ruling on Mr Pistorius's bail application on Friday. Lead defence lawyer Barry Roux asked for the charge of premeditated murder to be downgraded, and said Det Botha's contradictory evidence on Wednesday had undermined the prosecution's case. Mr Roux said: "The poor quality of the evidence offered by investigative officer Botha exposed the disastrous shortcomings of the state's case. The defence counsel said the fact that Mr Pistorius had carried Ms Steenkamp downstairs showed he was desperate to save her life.
Mr Roux added that the "known forensics is consistent" with the sprinter's version of events, and that a post-mortem examination showed Ms Steenkamp had an empty bladder at the time of her death. The criminal charges against Botha as well as his admission about failings in the Pistorius investigation and contradictory evidence shone an unflattering light on the police force in a country that is ranked one of the most violent in the world.
The force was accused of brutality after the Marikana mine tragedy in August where they shot 34 striking workers in the space of just a few minutes in a crackdown that shocked the world.
The prosecution has accused the star Olympian and Paralympian of premeditated murder over the Valentine's Day killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, but Pistorius says he mistook her for an intruder at his luxury Pretoria home and did not intend to kill her. Moonoo is a career police officer who was described by colleagues in a police blog in as "vastly experienced as a detective, both as an investigator".
He underwent initial police training in , and according to police service records became a detective in in Soweto, the cradle of the anti-apartheid movement. He spent the following 27 years working his way up through the ranks to become head of the detective service. Moonoo will face a tough task to turn the case around after a series of missteps by the man he replaced. Pistorius's lawyers tore into Botha's police work during the bail hearings for Pistorius, forcing him to agree that the Olympian's version of events fitted the crime scene.
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