State claims to have confession statements in Meyiwa murder trial

The state has requested a trial within a trial in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case claiming that it is in possession of confession statements from some of the accused.

Advocate George Baloyi told the court on Wednesday that the statements were made by accused number one and two, who are both represented by advocate Sipho Ramosepele.

He added that the state also has warning statements from all five men accused of the murder of the late Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates skipper.

“The state is at a point where we want to present various statements made by accused persons,” Baloyi said.

“The state is in possession of a confession, as well as pointings out made by accused number one [Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya].

“The state is also in possession of two confessions made by accused number two [Bongani Ntanzi]. The state also intends to lead evidence on the warning statements of all the accused.”

Ramosepele argued that his clients had been brutalised for the state to get the information it wanted from them.

He said Sibiya had been subjected to assaults since his arrest on June 18 2020, noting that the statements the state claims to possess were obtained through beatings and abuse.

“The making of the statement needs to be clarified because he [Sibiya] says that a statement was brought to him.

“He was assaulted [and] coerced to sign that statement. He made a statement because he was beaten up, assaulted [and] abused to sign that statement.


Earlier on Wednesday, the court heard that no transactions were made on Ntanzi’s Capitec savings account between October 25 and 28 2014.

This while Ramosepele claimed that his client had applied for and received a loan from the banking group.

He said his client was approved for a loan but the amount did not reflect on the statements of his savings account dating back from January 21 2014 to December 31 2015.

He added that in his understanding, the transactions were done in Nongoma, 300km north of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal on October 25 2014.

According to Ramosepele, he could not hire a financial expert or forensic expert to look into the matter due to financial constraints, but has asked a “friend” to ask her company to access bank transactions to confirm transaction details brought before court.

Ramosepeli asked for a short adjournment to confirm the details of the account he received the said loan.

 

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