Mthethwa admits he doesn’t know what happened on the crime scene the time they were away

During the time the State witness, Sergeant Patrick Mthethwa together with three of his colleagues left the Senzo Meyiwa crime scene unsecured and drove to the hospital, neighbour Maggie Phiri, Sylvia Ngubeni, and two other people went into the house. It was at this time that Phiri started picking up beer cans and cleaning the crime scene because she didn’t want the police to see that the people who were in the house were drinking.

That is according to a statement read in court, deposed by Sylvia Ngubeni.

It was only after the scene was cleaned that Mthethwa and his colleague arrived back from the hospital and cordoned off the place.

“The police arrived at the scene and they went into the house and I don’t remember who opened the house for them. They came out and I always saw the police van and I thought the police were always in the vicinity. Later, a contingency of police arrived and cordoned off the place with tapes,” reads the statement in part.

Mthethwa, on the stand for the second day, has admitted that he has no idea what could have taken place at the scene while they were away.

State witness Patrick Mthethwa has admitted that he has no idea what could have happened in the house during the time they had left the scene unsecured. #SABCNews #SenzoMeyiwatrial pic.twitter.com/zzrSHW2z5m

— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) September 9, 2022

He says they first arrived at the scene at 20h53 to find a man who only identified himself as Themba Khumalo, the brother of Gladness Khumalo and an uncle to Kelly Khumalo.

Mthethwa says they only took his word for it and didn’t ascertain whether he could have been one of the culprits and believed him because he had the house key with him.

Advocate Mshololo went to great lengths to paint a picture of inexperienced police officers who attended the scene and jeopardised it by leaving it unattended.

Mthethwa, who told the court on Thursday that he couldn’t have left his colleague at the scene because they operated in pairs, has on Friday admitted that they were in fact four, and not two.

“But I can explain why we couldn’t leave the other two on the scene because the other two were student constables and were not even allowed to drive a car,” says Mthethwa.

Mthethwa says when they left they had instructed Khumalo, whom they had found on the scene, to lock the house. But it has now emerged that a number of people entered the house and cleaned the place during this time.

Earlier, the judge had to intervene when Mthethwa sounded condescending in his responses.

Judge Maumela intervenes when Mthethwa retorts and gives condescending answers to Adv Mshololo.

Mthethwa says they didn’t have information that the house was a crime scene the first time they visited the house. #SABCNews #SenzoMeyiwatrial pic.twitter.com/uuMRSkDV9B

— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) September 9, 2022