Cellphone expert Francois Möller says there was no communication found in Eastern Cape Judge President Mfanelo Selby Mbenenge’s cellphone that happened between him and the judge’s secretary, Andiswa Mengo.
Möller said this on Monday at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal sitting in Sandton.
He said he was given three cellphone numbers and two cellphones, a Samsung S20 [Mbenenge’s phone] and a Samsung Galaxy A14 [Mengo’s cellphone]; however, he was only able to work on one cellphone, which belongs to Mengo, because there was no data on Mbenenge’s gadget.
“When I searched the name ‘Mfanelo’ on the Samsung Galaxy A12, 855 messages between a number that used the A12 and the number that used the Samsung S20 came up.
“We just cannot tell for a fact that it was a certain individual who was sending the messages,” he explained.
As part of a forensic report, he said he compiled a 433-page report based on the messages that he found.
“In this report we saw the content, information of the sender, the receiver, time and date, and whether the person read the message,” Möller added.
Picture of private part comes up again
Evidence leader, advocate Salome Scheepers, questioned him about the screenshots that were previously presented by Mengo before the tribunal.
“There’s a picture of a person’s leg that Miss Mengo claimed was from judge Mbenenge, but Mbenenge disputed sending this picture to her. Can you determine if he did?”
Möller responded: “No, I cannot determine if the message was from Mbenenge. I cannot tell where this picture originated. I cannot tell if it’s a screenshot or a picture that was taken.”
Before the defence started with cross-examination, Möller said he did not know the two in the hearing and that he had no interest in the outcome of the hearing.
Advocate Griffiths Madonsela, representing Mbenenge, started by asking about a picture of a private part that was allegedly sent by Mbenenge to Mengo.
“This was very topical in this matter; I will start with it. Miss Mengo said the respondent [Mbenenge] sent her a picture of his private part at 09:05. Are you able to confirm any message exchanged between Mbenenge and Miss Mengo at that time?” asked Madonsela.
Möller, however, said there were no matches for the time that were found.
Difficulty analysing the data
“At the time of my investigation, that message was not there. I did not find any messages on Mbenenge’s cellphone.”
He highlighted that he had difficulty analysing the data picture because it did not have the name of the sender, time, and date.
“The problem I had with this picture was that it doesn’t have a date and time; maybe it was cropped, but I cannot conclude that it was a screenshot or a WhatsApp message,” he added.
Madonsela asked if cropping was manipulating the picture. “Yes! Because when you crop a picture, you’re editing it, Möller said.”
The hearing is a result of a complaint by Mengo that Mbenenge made sexual advances towards her in 2021.
The hearing continues.
