Oscar Pistorious freed on bail
Pretoria, Feb 22 : Paralympic athlete and Olympic medalist Oscar Pistorious was granted bail on Friday by a magistrate, pending the trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Pretoria magistrate Desmond Nair ruled Pistorius was not a flight risk and did not pose a danger to society after a four-day bail hearing.
"I come to the conclusion that the accused has made a case to be released on bail," Nair said, setting the bail at one million rand ($112,770) and asking Pistorius to surrender his passport, firearms and report on Monday and Friday.
Earlier, rhere was a fresh twist in the high profile trial on Thursday after it emerged that the chief investigating officer himself had attempted murder charges against him.
The South African police authorities admitted that they have committed a series of serious blunder while investigating the murder case of Reeva Steenkamp, who has been shot dead by Pistorious.
Chief investigator Hilton Botha, who was handling the case, crumbled under defence cross-examination on Wednesday.
Botha had wrongly claimed to have found boxes of "testosterone" in Pistorius's bedroom and admitted that police had no evidence contradicting the athlete's version of events, reports The Guardian.
On Thursday, there was more embarrassment in store for the South African police as they admitted Botha is himself charged with attempted murder.
Police Brigadier Neville Malila said that Botha is scheduled to appear in court in May.
Botha is facing seven counts of attempted murder. News reports claimed that Both and two other police officers were involved in a drunken incident and have been accused of firing shots from a state-owned vehicle while trying to stop a minivan.
Pistorius, a double leg amputee known as the Blade Runner, is facing trial for shooting dead his girlfriend.
Pistorious has admitted shooting dead Steenkamp, 29, while she was in the bathroom of his home on Feb 14.
He claimed he mistook her for an intruder and denied a charge of premeditated murder.