????The arrest of the 26-year-old Olympic and Paralympic sprinter has stunned millions across the world who held him up as a hero for triumphing over adversity to compete with able-bodied athletes at the highest level of sport. ????THE prosecution case against Oscar Pistorius began to unravel Wednesday with revelations of a series of police blunders and the lead investigator’s admission that authorities have no evidence challenging the double-amputee Olympian’s claim he killed his girlfriend accidentally. ????Detective Hilton Botha’s often confused testimony left prosecutors rubbing their heads in frustration as he misjudged distances and said testosterone was found at the scene, only to be later contradicted by the prosecutor’s office. ????The second day of what was supposed to be a mere bail hearing almost resembled a full-blown trial for the 26-year-old runner, with his lawyer, Barry Roux, tearing into Botha’s testimony step by step during cross examination. ????Police, Botha acknowledged, left a 9mm slug from the barrage that killed Reeva Steenkamp inside a toilet and lost track of illegal ammunition found inside the house. And the detective himself walked through the crime scene without wearing protective shoe covers, potentially contaminating the area. ????Authorities, Roux asserted, were selectively taking “every piece of evidence to try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court.” ????The case has riveted South Africa, with journalists and the curious crowding into the brick-walled courtroom where Pistorius, dubbed the Blade Runner for his prosthetic legs, faces a charge of premeditated murder in the Valentine’s Day slaying. ????Pistorius says he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder and shot her out of fear, while prosecutors say he planned the killing and attacked her as she cowered behind a locked bathroom door. ????The day seemed to start out well for the prosecution, with Botha offering new details of the shooting that appeared to call into question Pistorius’ account of the moments leading up to the 29-year-old model’s death. ????Ballistic evidence, he said, showed the bullets that killed her had been fired from a height, supporting the prosecution’s assertion that Pistorius was wearing prosthetic legs when he took aim at the bathroom door. The athlete has maintained he was standing only on his stumps, and felt vulnerable and frightened as he opened fire from a low position. ????Projecting a diagram of the bedroom and bathroom, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said it showed Pistorius had to walk past his bed to get to bathroom and could not have done so without seeing that Steenkamp was not asleep there. ????“There’s no other way of getting there,” Nel said in disputing Pistorius’ claim that he had no idea Steenkamp was no longer in bed when he pumped four bullets into the bathroom door, striking her with three. ????Botha backed the prosecutor up, saying the holster for Pistorius’ 9mm pistol was found under the left side of the bed, where Steenkamp slept, and it would have been impossible for Pistorius to get the gun without checking to see if she was there. ????“I believe that he knew that Reeva was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door,” the detective said. ????Botha described how bullets struck Steenkamp in the head and shattered her right arm and hip, eliciting sobs from Pistorius, who held his head in hands. ????However, when asked if Steenkamp’s body showed “any pattern of defensive wounds” or bruising from an assault, Botha said “no.” He again responded “no” when asked if investigators found anything inconsistent with Pistorius’ version of events, though he later said nothing contradicted the police version either. ????Testimony began with the prosecutor telling the court that before the shooting, a neighbor heard “nonstop” shouting between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. at Pistorius’ upscale home in a gated community in the capital, Pretoria. ????However, Botha later said under cross examination that the witness was in a house 600 yards (meters) away, possibly out of earshot. He cut that estimate in half when questioned again by the prosecutor, as confusion reigned for much of his testimony. ????At one point, Botha told the court that police found syringes and two boxes of testosterone in Pistorius’ bedroom — testimony the prosecution later withdrew, saying it was too early to identify the substance, which was still being tested. ????“It is not certain (what it is) until the forensics” are completed, Medupe Simasiku, a spokesman for South Africa’s National Prosecution Agency said. It’s not clear if it was “a legal or an illegal medication for now.” ????The defense also disputed the claim. “It is an herbal remedy,” Roux said. “It is not ... a banned substance.” ????Still, Botha offered potentially damaging details about Pistorius’ past, saying the athlete was once involved in an accidental shooting at a restaurant in Johannesburg and asked someone else “to take the wrap.” ????The runner also threatened men on two separate occasions, Botha said, allegedly telling one he’d “break his legs.” ????The detective said police found two iPhones in Pistorius’ bathroom and two BlackBerrys in his bedroom, and none had been used to phone for help. Guards at the gated community did call the athlete, Botha said, and all he said was: “I’m all right,” as he wept uncontrollably. ????Roux later suggested that a fifth phone, not collected by the police, was used by Pistorius to call for help. ????While Pistorius faces the harshest bail requirements under South African law, the magistrate has said he would consider loosening them based on testimony in the hearing. ????Oscar Pistorius was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1986. Born without a fibula in either of his legs, Pistorius’ legs were amputated below the knee just before he turned 1. ????Pistorius’ childhood was shaped partly by tragedy. His parents divorced when he was 6, a fact that largely contributed to a strained relationship between Oscar and his father, a businessman, that continues to this day. His mother died when he was 15, the result of drug complications following a hysterectomy. ????After competing in several school sports, he took up running at 16 and within just a few months had captured a gold at the 2004 Athens Paralympics. ????Following his win in Athens, Pistorius competed in several races in South Africa against able-bodied athletes. ????But Pistorius’ artificial legs have been a source of controversy throughout much of his athletic career. In 2007, the International Association of Athletic Foundations, the worldwide body that governs international competition, banned Pistorius from competing, stating that his artificial legs gave him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes in the competition. ????After missing the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a determined Pistorius focused his training on making the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. ????Along the way, Pistorius captured three gold medals at the 2011 IPC (International Paralympic Committee) Athletic World Championships. ????In the spring of 2012, Pistorius realized his ultimate dream when he qualified for the 400-meter race at the London Olympics. ????He secured his place in history by becoming the first amputee athlete to compete in the Olympics. ????(SD-Agencies) | 