In a riveting turn of events Sergeant Moses Mabasa, the fifth state witness and cellphone analyst, revealed damning photo evidence recovered from the phone of accused number three Mthobisi Mncube.
Mabasa was testifying in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial in the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
He works as an analyst within the SA Police Service and specialises in the examination of cellphones encompassing the analysis of both incoming and outgoing calls and messages.
During his testimony, Mabasa said in August 2020, he was assigned a task of collating photos retrieved from the sim and memory cards.
Upon analysing Mncube’s confiscated phone, he found several incriminating photos.
Among them were images of a man with dreadlocks, taxis, and what seemed to be banknotes in a plastic bag, taken on August 16 2014.
However, the most chilling image that raised eyebrows was a photograph captioned “my killing machine”, which showed a 9mm pistol.
Another unsettling discovery was an image showing a stash of R50, R100, and R200 banknotes scattered on the floor and the captioned: “Ngiyofa nini ngikhohlwe [when will I die in order for me to forget].”
Five men including Mncube are on trial for charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The accused – Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, and Sifiso Ntuli have all pleaded not guilty to the murder of Meyiwa in Vosloorus on October 26 2014.
Earlier in the day, seasoned police data analyst Colonel Lambertus Steyn exuded confidence in his expertise after he presented damning evidence.
During cross-examination, the judge enquired about previous acceptance of his evidence, to which Steyn affirmed that his evidence had never been rejected before.
However, his credibility was put to the test when doubts were raised regarding the accuracy of his cellphone evidence and the inclusion of pictures in his report.
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