Lead cop in Oscar Pistorius murder probe faces attempted murder charge PRETORIA, South Africa, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The lead officer in the Oscar Pistorius murder case faces attempted-murder charges, South African police said as Pistorius' bail hearing entered its third day. Detective Hilton Botha -- who offered sometimes confused testimony Wednesday during the second day of the bail hearing for the Olympic double-amputee sprinter -- faces seven counts of attempted murder after allegedly opening fire on seven passengers in a minibus while drunk with two other officers, Pretoria Police spokesman Brig. Neville Malila said Thursday. Botha and the other officers fired the shots in 2009 while trying to stop the vehicle, Malila told reporters. Botha was initially charged in the case, but the charges were later provisionally withdrawn and the matter was referred to the independent director of public prosecutions, Malila said. "It was only yesterday [Wednesday] that we were informed by the DPP that [Botha] is being charged," The Times of South Africa quoted Malila as saying. Botha is to appear in court in May to face the attempted-murder charges, but police still plan to keep him on the Pistorius case, Britain's Sky News reported. Botha is the lead investigating officer in the murder of Pistorius' girlfriend, model and law school graduate Reeva Steenkamp, Feb. 14. During the bail hearing Wednesday, Botha said he could show through witness statements and phone records Pistorius and Steenkamp had been fighting before the Valentine's Day shooting. He testified witnesses had told him they heard shouting in the house, citing a neighbor who claimed to have heard "two people talking loud at one another -- it sounded like a fight," between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., before the shooting. Under cross-examination, he acknowledged the neighbor lived almost 4/10 of a mile from Pistorius' home, so he might have been out of earshot. Questioned by the prosecutor later, Botha revised the estimate to just under 2/10 of a mile. Botha also said he firmly believed Pistorius knew Steenkamp was in the bathroom when he fired shots through the closed door. But when asked under cross-examination if police found anything inconsistent with Pistorius' version of events -- that the sprinter thought he was firing at an intruder -- Botha said they had not. Botha said investigators found two boxes of testosterone in Pistorius' bedroom. Testosterone is a banned substance for most professional athletes and is known to increase aggression in people who take it as a supplement. Pistorius attorney Barry Roux said the substance in the bedroom was not testosterone but an herbal supplement used by many athletes and not banned by anti-doping agencies. "I didn't read the whole name" on the container, Botha admitted. Final arguments in the bail hearing were to be heard Thursday morning.