The court proceedings in the Senzo Meyiwa trial were cut short due to the defence’s request for an early adjournment.
This as Pinky Vythilingam, Vodacom’s forensic liaison supervisor, was still on the stand in the Pretoria High Court. She was testifying about mobile activities of the accused in the case.
The state explained that the proceedings had to be shortened because the defense had a session with a ballistic specialist at 2pm on Tuesday.
Presidential inauguration may delay trial start time
State prosecutor, advocate Ronnie Sibanda, indicated that court may start late on Wednesday. This was due to the presidential inauguration, which is set to take place at the Union Building in the same city.
Sibanda said several roads are expected to be closed, and that might cause a delay in the proceedings.
Leading Vythilingam’s testimony, Sibanda started by recapping on some of the evidence shared in court last week.
He highlighted that the tower that picked up on accused three’s phone (Mthobisi Mncube) on the evening of 26 October 2014 was Goud Street in Johannesburg.
Vythilingam confirmed the highlight.
He went on to say Mncube’s phone was picked by a tower in Spruitview on 24 and 28 November 2014. This was a month after Meyiwa’s murder.
Vythilingam agreed.
Focus on cellphone data captured by towers
This is the same tower that singer Kelly Khumalo and Longwe Twala’s phones picked on the night of Meyiwa’s death. Khumalo had an affair with the deceased, Senzo Meyiwa.
Sibanda asked about the time lapse between 17:55, when Mncube’s phone first picked up a tower in Johannesburg and 18:07 where it picked Spruitview. Vythilingam said it is 22 minutes.
“Are you saying one has to travel 22 minutes to Spruitview?” Sibanda asked. Defense counsel for accused three Charles Mnisi objected to the question.
“My lord, this witness will be doing a guess game and this court does not deal with guesses. How long it takes for one person to reach an area depends on their mode of transportation,” said Mnisi.
Court adjourned for Wednesday.
