Detective Hilton Botha, the police
officer leading the investigation into the death of Reeva Steenkamp, has today been dropped from the case after it was was revealed that he is facing seven charges of
attempted murder for allegedly shooting at a taxi minibus while on duty in 2011.
Oscar Pistorius, 26, denies the premeditated murder of girlfriend Reeva but admits shooting the model with a 9mm pistol through a bathroom door at his home, claiming he thought she was a burglar.
After realising he'd injured Reeva, he maintains he broke down the door with a cricket bat and carried her downstairs.
Oscar and Reeva were fast becoming known as 'South Africa's Posh and Becks' - before Reeva was fatally shot.
The beautiful cover girl was on the cusp of international stardom and the trailblazing sprinter, known as 'the Blade Runner', had already secured his place in history by becoming the first amputee athlete to compete in the able-bodied Olympics.During their time together, Reeva made a point of publicly underlining her affection for Oscar.
On 1 February, she Tweeted him to say he was ‘beautiful' - and in a newspaper interview published just four days before she died, Reeva described him as ‘an impeccable man who always had [her] best interests at heart'.
A law graduate whose friends say she was known as much for her kind nature as her beauty,
Reeva - twice voted one of FHM's most beautiful women in the world - had been due to make her debut on a South African reality TV series just two days after her death.