Bungling Pistorius detective Hilton Botha quits South African police force

THE South African detective who bungled investigations into the case against Paralympian star sprinter Oscar Pistorius has quit the police force.

THE former lead detective in South Africa's investigation of the murder case against Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has resigned from the police force, police said.

The decision by detective Hilton Botha to quit followed criticism for his bungling of the investigation into Pistorius' shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Feb. 14, as well as the revelation that he faced attempted murder charges for a 2011 case in which he fired at a vehicle.

In an interview with a local radio station, Mr Botha said his resignation was not linked to the case against Pistorius, but he was moving to a better paying job

"I was looking for another job with a better pay for a long time now and I got this job that is gonna make me able to pay my son's university for next year," he told Jacaranda FM.

The police force as a whole came under scrutiny for the initial decision to assign Mr Botha, a relatively junior officer, to a high-profile case involving an international celebrity.

South African police practices came under more intense criticism last week after a taxi driver from Mozambique was dragged from a police vehicle and later died in detention east of Johannesburg.

Brig. Neville Malila, a police spokesman, said Mr Botha voluntarily applied to leave the service, and said police would not divulge his reasons.

Oscar Pistorius

"It was his initiative. He applied for the resignation and the exit interviews were conducted with him," Brig. Malila said.

"He still maintained that he wanted to leave the service and we honoured his wish."

Mr Botha made several errors as the lead investigator after the double-amputee athlete shot Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria, the South African capital.

He walked through the crime scene without wearing protective shoe covers, potentially contaminating the area; gave conflicting estimates of the distance of the house of a potential witness; and was criticised by the judge in the athlete's bail hearing for failing to secure data from cellular telephones found at the scene of the shooting.

He admitted in court the investigation "could have been handled better", conceding he may have contaminated the crime scene and his team had failed to spot a bullet lodged in the toilet.

It later emerged that Mr Botha faced attempted murder charges for a case in which he and two other officers fired on a vehicle in an attempt to make it stop. His superiors then removed him from the Pistorius case, replacing him with a senior investigator, police Lt. Gen. Vinesh Moonoo.

Rudolph Zinn, a former detective who lectures at the School of Criminal Justice and Police Practice at the University of South Africa, said it should have been standard procedure to assign a top official from the beginning of the Pistorius case.

"A senior person should be appointed as soon as possible to take over the investigation's management to make sure that the crime scene is processed accordingly," he said in an interview with The Associated Press last month.

Pistorius, who was freed on bail, says he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he shot her through a locked bathroom door. Prosecutors believe the shooting happened after the couple got into an argument.

The Olympian's next court appearance is scheduled for June 4.

Also Thursday, a South African public relations company said it will no longer represent Pistorius.

Janine Hills, the head of Vuma Reputation Management, said the Pistorius family is in a "stronger position" to handle media issues, but that her company will continue to provide guidance. She said in an email to the AP that a "handover process" had been under way since March 1.