The five men accused of killing Senzo Meyiwa. (Photo by Phill Magakoe/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
After five gruelling months, the Senzo Meyiwa trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of alleged confessions made by two of the accused headed towards a close, with prosecutor George Baloyi making the state’s closing arguments.
Baloyi argued in the Pretoria high court on Thursday that Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Bongani Ntanzi, the first two accused, were not assaulted by police when they allegedly confessed to killing Meyiwa on 26 October 2014.
Sibiya and Ntanzi are among five men accused of killing Meyiwa at the home of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus, Gauteng. The other three are Mthobisi Ncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli.
Baloyi went over the evidence from the police and witnesses, who dismissed the assault claims, saying the police’s automatic vehicle locator — which tracked the officers’ cars when the two men were arrested in May and June 2020 — did not support Ntanzi’s testimony of deviations made during his alleged torture.
Police officers who were part of the teams that escorted the accused and those who took down their alleged confessions told the court that the men showed no visible signs of having been assaulted.
State witness and senior police officer Colonel Mhlanganyelwa Moses Mbotho, who took the alleged confession of Sibiya, testified that the accused had no injuries and was not under the influence of drugs when he confessed to the crime in 2020.
“Did anyone influence you to make the statement? He said nobody influenced him to make the statement. Have any promises been made to you to make the statement? He said no promises. Do you expect to benefit from the statement? He said no,” Mbotho told the court.
Addressing the court on Thursday, Baloyi reiterated that it did not make sense that the accused would not disclose to the officer that he had been assaulted and coerced into confessing.
“Photos of the accused top half were taken to show there were no injuries, and after the pointing out, again, photos were taken also to show there were no injuries,” the prosecutor said.
He recounted the testimony of state witness magistrate Vivian Cronje, who took Ntanzi’s alleged confession and told the court that the accused appeared to be “very relaxed”, maintained eye contact when asked questions and was “calm”.
“Furthermore, the occurrence book entries from the police stations he went to all show that Ntanzi was booked out and returned to the cells without any injuries,” Baloyi said.
He referred to the evidence given by dentist Thabang Thlokwe, who had examined Ntanzi, saying: “Also there were no markings that the patient was kind of really beaten up. It looked like a normal individual that does not look like they were in any physical, severe physical altercation.”
Baloyi added: “Regarding the question whether accused number two had any injuries, the doctor testified that in this case, there were no certain marks that showed [that] the patient was really choked. And, as for the face, there were no lacerations.”
Ntanzi told the court that he was choked, suffocated and “tubed” by the police officers who wanted him to sign an already written document.
The prosecutor said Ntanzi’s lawyer, Sipho Ramosepele, contradicted his client by saying he was allegedly tortured on 19 June 2020, when Ntanzi testified that his alleged beatings happened a day prior.
The alleged confessions have not been read out in court because they are awaiting Judge Ratha Mokgoathleng’s admissibility ruling, which will be made after lawyers for the first two accused make their closing arguments.
All of the accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition.