Mncube’s phone was confiscated when he was arrested in 2015 in a separate case relating to taxi violence in Alexandra in Johannesburg. (Photo by Gallo Images/OJ Koloti)
The state is banking on meticulous evidence collection at the crime scene of Senzo Meyiwa’s killing to show the strength of its physical evidence, with sergeant Thabo Mosia being the first witness to testify at the trial.
On Monday, Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela removed attorney Magdalene Moonsamy, who represents singer Kelly Khumalo and had listened in on the trial from its beginning on behalf of her client, from the court, saying she could return after Khumalo’s expected testimony.
Advocate Dan Teffo, the lawyer for the first four accused in the trial, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Ncube and Mthokoziseni Maphisa, had repeatedly raised objection to Moonsamy’s presence in court, because Khumalo was a potential witness in the trial.
Fisokuhle Ntuli, who is represented by advocate Zandile Mshololo, is the fifth accused in the matter.
Meyiwa, a footballer who captained Orlando Pirates and the national team, Bafana Bafana, was gunned in October 2014 at the family home of his lover, Khumalo, in Vosloorus, Gauteng.
After Maumela’s order on Moonsamy, advocate George Baloyi, the prosecutor, called the state’s first witness, Mosia, who testified that he arrived at the scene of Mewiya’s killing in Vosloorus shortly after midnight, where he took pictures and compiled a sketch of the Khumalo household.
“I was responsible for [the] collecting, packaging and processing of all the exhibits from the crime scene to the forensic sciences laboratory for investigation,” Mosia testified.
“We collected swabs from different places inside the house for DNA. A swab is an evidence-collection [instrument] used to collect DNA from different surfaces.”
Mosia added that the evidence he first noticed was a grey, white and brown chequered hat, a silver walking stick and “a bullet jacket”, which he said was a fragment of a bullet, that was found on the kitchen countertop inside the house.
The officer said there was a bullet hole on the kitchen door, which he said was the entry point for the crime.
“We traced the movement of the bullet [from the kitchen door] and managed to find the bullet on the kitchen [counter] top behind a glass jar,” Mosia said.
The bullet evidence could be crucial after Baloyi indicated in court on Friday 22 April that the state would prove that the bullet found at the Khumalo home, and which is believed to have been the fatal shot, matched the gun that was found at the residence of accused number three, Ncube, who stayed with his girlfriend in Johannesburg.
Baloyi added on Friday that police seized Ncube’s phone and found a picture of the alleged murder weapon, a 9mm Parabellum, which Ncube had captioned: “My killing machine.”
Mosia was due to continue his testimony after the lunch break, when he was expected to be cross-examined by the defence lawyers.
The trial continues.