OSCAR PISTORIUS IS to spend another night in a police cell before hearing if his bail application has been successful.
The prolonged proceedings were adjourned until 10am (local time, 8am Irish time) tomorrow morning.
The Paralympic champion and Olympian faces charges of pre-meditated murder for the shooting dead of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on St Valentine’s Day.
The 29-year-old model died from three gunshot wounds.
Pistorius insists that he shot Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder at his Pretoria home. The prosecution contests this version of events but has had a difficult time in court over the past two days.
This morning, fresh revelations harmed the State’s case even further. It has emerged that Hilton Botha, the lead detective on the investigation is facing attempted murder charges in relation to a 2011 incident.
Botha told South African news network eNCA that he only heard from another police officer about the reinstated charged today. The DPP only recently decided to reopen the investigation after charges were withdrawn.
The issue was not raised by either the Magistrate or the defence team when the detective was called to court this morning.
However, he did receive another round of tough questioning from Pistorius’s lawyer Barry Roux.
And that wasn’t the first or last dramatic incident.
Earlier, an unidentified woman made her way into the courtroom, asking for her ‘constitutional application’ to be read. According to Karyn Maughan, a journalist tweeting from the courtroom, she wanted to address the defendant’s “mental state”.
Another reporter, Aislinn Laing believes the woman was a friend of Pistorius’s late mother.
She was quickly dismissed by Magistrate Desmond Nair.
Later, the court adjourned briefly because of a “threat” outside the building. It later transpired to be a false alarm but not until Nair stopped proceedings and left the room quickly.
Revelations from today’s hearing:
The prosecution have jumped on this last piece of information with lead Gerrie Nel stating the revelation offers “insights into the person”.
To the defence question, “Why would an internationally-renowned athlete flee the country?”, he retorted, “Why would an internationally renowned athlete handle a firearm in public?”
It was at this point in the prosecution’s case that the proceedings were adjourned for another day.
For the third day in-a-row, the accused’s brother and sister, Carl and Aimee Pistorius were present, as was their father. At one point, Carl was seen delivering a cereal bar and dried cranberries to the Paralympic champion and Olympic athlete – a poignant reminder of his previous habits and lifestyle.
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