Blade Runner's hopes of getting bail soar after prosecution admits embarrassing blunders and courtroom laughs at bumbling policeman

Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius's chances of winning bail appeared to increase dramatically today after an embarrassing series of blunders and confusion in the prosecution case.
Just hours after the police officer leading the murder hunt told the athlete's bail hearing in Pretoria that the performance enhancing drug testosterone and steroids had been found at his mansion home shortly after the killing of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, prosecutors changed their story.
In a humiliating U-turn, a spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency said there had been an error in the evidence of detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha when he identified the substance found in the 26 year-old's bedroom.
Scroll down for video

 

Boxes of 'testosterone' and needles were found at Oscar Pistorius' home where he shot girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead after 'non-stop' arguing, a court heard today

 

 

 

 

 

Investigating officer Hilton Botha had to correct himself in court after initially saying steroids were found at the home of Oscar Pistorius. He then said it was testosterone but prosecution later admitted the drugs have not yet been tested

Medupe Simasiku said it is too early to identify the substance as it is still undergoing laboratory tests.
In fact, no results of any forensic tests from the scene of the killing had been given to investigators.
There had been gasps in court when WO Botha, a policeman for 24 years and the first officer to arrive at the Pistorius house on Valentine's Day following the shooting of the 29 year-old model and law graduate, and prosecutors claimed testosterone had been found together with needles.
Discovery of the sports drug could potentially have brought questions over the star's achievements at London 2012 where he became the first athlete to compete at an Olympics and Paralympics, winning two gold medals and a silver.
At one stage, the detective supposedly providing the key facts to keep Pistorius in custody had agreed with the defence lawyer that police had no evidence challenging the runner's claim he accidently killed his girlfriend in a bathroom, believing it was an intruder.
Police accuse Africa's most famous sportsman of premeditated murder, a charge he emphatically denies.

 

Damning: The first half of the hearing saw damning allegations surface, but after a recess his defence team fired tough questions at the main witness, chief investigative officer Hilton Botha

Pistorius was found wearing white shorts and a black vest and covered in towels, according to Mr Botha

WO Botha left prosecutors rubbing their temples, only able to look down at their notes as he misjudged distances and acknowledged a bungling forensics team left in the bathroom toilet bowl one of the bullets fired at Miss Steenkamp.
The second day of the bail hearing in a case that has riveted South Africa and much of the world appeared at first to go against the double-amputee runner, with prosecutors saying a witness can testify to hearing 'non-stop talking, like shouting' between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. before the predawn shooting on February 14.
However, WO Botha later said under cross examination that the person who overheard the argument was in a house 600 metres away in Pistorius's gated community in the suburbs of South Africa's capital, Pretoria.
Later, prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned the detective and acknowledged the distance was much closer.
But confusion reigned for much of his testimony when at one point WO Botha said officers found syringes and steroids in Pistorius' bedroom.
Mr Nel quickly cut the officer off and said the drugs were actually testosterone.
Defence lawyer, Barry Roux, asserted when questioning the detective that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a 'negative connotation.'
'It is an herbal remedy,' Mr Roux said. 'It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance.'
WO Botha had claimed examination of the model's body and the bathroom door Pistorius fired through suggested he had been had been wearing his prosthetic legs - directly contradicting the athlete's claims that he was on his stumps and fired believing an intruder had broken in.
'I believe that he knew that Reeva was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door,' the detective told the court.

 

Pistorius broke down in tears during the second day of the bail hearing as Mr Botha outlined the forensic evidence

 

Detective Hilton Botha said he believed the bullets were fired down suggesting Pistorius was wearing his prosthetic legs when the shots were discharged

As details were released from Miss Steenkamp's post mortem showing bullets hit the right side of her head, her hip and right elbow - resulting in a broken arm, Pistorius lent forward sobbing and muttered prayers, the muscles straining on his neck.
In apparently damning evidence aimed at countering the athlete's case for bail, WO Botha said he viewed the man who won two gold medals and a silver at London 2012 as a 'flight risk' pointing out he had not used any of the four telephones found at the house to call police and claiming his family had been searching for a memory stick containing details of off-shore bank accounts.
But amid confusion, Mr Roux began to pick holes in the prosecution case with the officer forced to acknowledge that the witness who allegedly overheard the argument was 600 metres from Pistorius' house at the Silver Woods complex on the outskirts of Pretoria. He later changed this to 300 metres.
Police 'take every piece of evidence and try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court,' Mr Roux told magistrate Desmond Nair.

 

Pistorius's brother Carl said after the hearing that he 'trusts everyone has more clarity about this tragic incident'

There was even laughter in the court during an exchange between Mr Nair and WO Botha with the magistrate asking the officer about his belief that if granted bail, Pistorius would flee South Africa.
Addressing WO Botha and prosecutor Gerrie Nel, Mr Nair said: 'The accused before court is an international athlete, paralympic athlete, he uses prosthesis on both legs.
'I'm sure we would both agree that his face is widely recognised internationally. Do you subjectively believe that he would take the opportunity, being who he is, using prosthesics to get around, to flee South Africa?'
WO Botha responded: 'Yes.' Security in the court stopped the laughter in the court.
The magistrate raises his eyebrows.
WO Botha protested: 'I believe for someone facing 15 years to life, I would make a plan to get out and go somewhere, with the finances he has.'