Prosecutor: Error in detective's 'testosterone' claim

Pistorius, the first Paralympian runner to compete at the Olympics, is charged with premeditated murder in the Valentine's Day shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp with a 9 mm pistol.

His bail hearing has concluded for Wednesday without a court decision and will be continued at 4 a.m. ET Thursday, according to media reports.

A police detective testified at the hearing that authorities have not found any inconsistencies in the star athlete's description of his shooting of his girlfriend — a killing Pistorius says was accidental but which prosecutors call murder.

In an additional revelation Wednesday, Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha said in court that police found two boxes of a substance believed to be testosterone and needles in Pistorius' bedroom. But a spokesman for the state prosecutor later said there was an error in a detective's testimony when he identified a substance police found in the  bedroom as testosterone. Medupe Simasiku, a spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecution Agency, said it is too early to identify the substance as it is still undergoing laboratory tests.

Pistorius' defense said the substance found was not a steroid or a banned substance but an herbal remedy.

The second day of the bail hearing in a case that has riveted South Africa and much of the world appeared at first to go against the double-amputee runner, with prosecutor Gerrie Nel saying a witness can testify to hearing "nonstop talking, like shouting" between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. before the predawn shooting on Valentine's Day.

Pistorius said in an affidavit read in court Tuesday that he and Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and budding reality-TV star, had gone to bed and that when he awoke during the night he detected what he thought was an intruder in the bathroom. He testified that he grabbed his 9 mm pistol and fired into the door of a toilet enclosed in the bathroom, only to discover later to his horror that Steenkamp was there, mortally wounded.

The prosecution alleged the couple had a fight before he fired shots.

Under cross-examination by the defense, Botha acknowledged that the witness who allegedly overheard the argument was 600 yards from Pistorius' house, where the shooting occurred. Later, prosecutor Nel re-questioned Botha, and the detective said the distance was actually much closer.

The prosecution attempted to cement its argument that the couple had a shouting match, that Steenkamp fled and locked herself into the toilet stall of the bathroom and that Pistorius fired four shots through the door, hitting her with three bullets.

Botha added, "I believe that he knew that Reeva was in the bathroom, and he shot four shots through the door."

When asked if the police found anything inconsistent with the version of events presented by Pistorius, Botha responded that they had not.

However Botha — who has 24 years' experience as a policeman and 16 as a detective — presented evidence that appears to disagree with Pistorius' account. Botha said the trajectory of the bullets showed the gun was fired pointed down and from a height. This seems to conflict with Pistorius' statement Tuesday, because the athlete said that he was on his stumps and feeling vulnerable because he was in a low position when he opened fired.

Nel has said the killing was premeditated because Pistorius took time to put on his prosthetic legs before the shooting.

Nel projected a plan of the bedroom and bathroom for the courtroom and argued that Pistorius had to walk past his bed to get to the bathroom and could not have done so without realizing Steenkamp was not in the bed.

"There's no other way of getting there," Nel said.

Botha said the holster for the 9 mm pistol was found under the side of the bed on which Steenkamp slept — also implying it would have been impossible for Pistorius to get the gun without realizing that Steenkamp was not in the bed and could have been the person in the bathroom. Pistorius testified Tuesday that the bedroom was pitch-dark.

Botha said Steenkamp was shot in the head over her right ear and in her right elbow and hip, with both joints broken by the impacts.

Defense attorney Barry Roux asked Botha if Steenkamp's body showed "any pattern of defensive wounds," and the detective said it did not.

Botha said the shots were fired from five feet, and that police found three spent cartridges in the bathroom and one in the hallway connecting the bathroom to the bedroom.

Police also found two iPhones in the bathroom and two BlackBerrys in the bedroom, Botha said, adding that none had been used to phone for help. Pistorius had said that he called the manager of his guarded and gated housing complex and a private paramedic service.

Roux said Pistorius did make calls, including to the guards of the housing estate. In one case, he said, a guard could hear Pistorius crying.

"Was it part of his premeditated plan, not to switch off the phone and cry?" Roux asked sarcastically.

Botha said Pistorius did not have a license for a .38-caliber weapon and consequently his possession of ammunition for such a weapon was illegal.

The detective said that all Pistorius would say after the shooting was "he thought it was a burglar."

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