Lieutenant Colonel Mohale Raphadu has denied any knowledge or involvement in the torture of accused 2, Bongani Ntanzi, in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial before the accused signed the confession statement three after his arrest.
During cross-examination, Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu put it to the witness that he did not take down the confession from the accused, but rather the chief investigating officer in the case, Brigadier Gininda, had brought the prepared statement to him for the accused to sign it.
Fearing for his life, Mngomezulu says, Ntanzi then signed the statement.
Raphadu has denied this.
Mngomezulu: Brigadier Gininda took out the documents and gave them to you.
Raphadu: I will disagree with that.
Mngomezulu: The instruction from Gininda to the accused was that ‘if you don’t sign these documents the assault will carry on’.
Raphadu: I don’t know anything about that.
Mngomezulu: The torturing, tubing and assaulting of the accused carried on until you asked the police officers who were around if he was still alive.
Raphadu: I was never involved in any assault.
Mngomezulu: Fearing for his life, after the plastic was removed from his face, he then agreed to sign.
Raphadu: That’s not true. If you are talking about the confession I took down, all that happened in my office.
Exactly nine years since the murder of former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper, Senzo Meyiwa, the first confession Ntanzi is said to have made, three days following his arrest has come into sharp focus at the high court in Pretoria, probing the murder of the soccer star.
Meyiwa was killed on 26 October 2014 at his former girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo’s home in Vosloorus when allegedly two intruders entered the house where Meyiwa and other people were sitting, and demanded cellphones and money.
During a scuffle that ensued a shot went off and Meyiwa was shot in the chest and succumbed to his injuries.
Court adjourns until tomorrow after Adv Mshololo told the court that only this morning was she furnished with Sgt. Mogano’s statement in relation to Ntanzi’s arrest and detention. She says wants to compare the statement with the OB book and consult. #SABCNews #SenzoMeyiwa
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) October 26, 2023
Meyiwa Murder Trial | Protest outside court to mark 9 years since his death: Chriselda Lewis reports
