Two dockets in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial came under scrutiny at the high court in Pretoria on Wednesday when forensic police officer Thabo Mosia returned to the dock.
The second docket, which is investigated by Lt-Col Joyce Buthelezi and Warrant Officer Meshack Makhubo was filed in 2019.
Defence lawyer Malesela Teffo told the court that the docket, which has an affidavit from the late Brigadier Philani Ndlovu, suggested that the seven witnesses found at the crime scene are the suspects and should be treated as such.
But Mosia said he was not aware of the second docket.
Asked Teffo: “Investigators in case 375 [the second docket] believe that the people earmarked to be suspects [seven who were in the house at the time Meyiwa was killed] must be arrested and prosecuted. Do you have anything to say?”
Mosia withheld his response, saying he has “nothing to say”, which prompted Teffo to tell the court that his purpose is to protect any oversight of the state in so far as the murder case is concerned, especially the crime scene, but he is not one to be relied on.
Teffo then asked Mosia if he thought Ndlovu was an important witness in the case, to which Mosia withheld his response again.
“Are you aware if there was any affidavit deposed by Major-General Ndlovu before he passed on,” asked Teffo, and Mosia responded by saying he is not aware.
“I put it to you that Major-General Ndlovu has deposed of an affidavit in case 375 [the case that says nobody entered the house and that Kelly Khumalo and others should be suspects],” said Teffo emphatically, also confirming that the presence of Ndlovu was important to support the affidavit.
Referring to Mosia’s 14 years experience in the police force, Teffo said it is not unprecedented that the police have two dockets on a matter. “That is a very strange situation. I have never come across it,” answered Mosia.
During the proceedings on Tuesday, Teffo said the killer is among the people who were at the crime scene and added that it could not have been any of his clients.
He told the courtroom: “The killer and the murder weapon [were] in the house. That is the theory as I said. [Case number] 375 [which was opened in 2019] says the suspects should be the people who were in the house with the deceased that day.
Meyiwa was gunned down at the residence of his then-girlfriend and singer Kelly Khumalo in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg on October 26, 2014.
The trial continues
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