According to South Africa's Eyewitness News, Hilton Botha, the investigating officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case, faces seven counts of attempted murder related to a 2009 shooting. Botha and three other officers allegedly opened fire on a minibus full of passengers while drunk. Botha was arrested and charged for the crime in 2011; at one point, the charges were dropped, but they were later reinstated.

Johannesburg police spokesperson Neville Malila said Botha will stay on the Pistorius case.

"There was a decision taken by the DPP's office to charge the members, each one of them with seven counts of attempted murder. That was the number of people that were in the taxi."

He said Botha was chosen to handle the Pistorius case because he is a seasoned detective and said there were no plans to pull him off the investigation.

"The member is innocent until proven guilty. The member was chosen by the station to do the investigation due to the fact that he is a senior."

This has been a rough week for Botha. On Monday, he contradicted himself during cross examination and during Wednesday's testimony, he admitted that "there was no evidence to show inconsistencies in the version of events the Blade Runner put to the court" and that he had contaminated the crime scene during his initial investigation.

UPDATE: According to Agence France-Presse, Botha has been dropped from the case.
[Image via AP]