State witness Zandile Khumalo is not in a position to say whether one of the people who was in the house watching a football match and drinking alcohol could have disarmed the suspect and shot Senzo Meyiwa.
Mshololo: You cannot dispute that one of the people in the house disarmed the suspect and shot Senzo. Can you?
Zandi: When I moved away from there, Senzo and the gunman were the ones fighting for a gun. #SenzoMeyiwaTrial #SenzoMeyiwa #SABCNews
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) July 24, 2023
Advocate Zandile Mshololo was at pains to get a concession from the witness that she didn’t know who had in fact shot Meyiwa, and after constant objections, the witness finally admitted she could not say.
Mshololo: You cannot say if she disarmed the suspect and shot at the deceased.
State objects, says there’s no evidence of such.
Mshololo: It’s for the witness to say if she has not seen that, my lord.
Zandi: That’s what you say. I didn’t see it.#SABCNews #SenzoMeyiwaTrial
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) July 24, 2023
Zandile: I ran into the bathroom when the first shot was fired and I was hit on the leg by something.
Mshololo: I think my question has been answered. The witness did not see whether the shot was fired by one of the people in the house.
Further building up a case that anything could have happened and anyone could have pulled the gun, Mshololo further tried to place Kelly Khumalo in the kitchen the time the shot went off.
Mshololo: Where was Kelly?
Zandile: In the kitchen.
Mshololo: Yes, where the deceased was shot.
Zandile: Yes, because I had seen her go to assist him.
Mshololo kicked off her cross-examination of the witness during the post-lunch adjournment proceedings, by bringing up the controversial second docket, Vosloorus CAS 375/1/2019.
In it, the people who were in the house when allegedly two intruders entered the house and demanded cellphones and money, are cited as suspects.
Mshololo read out a letter by the National Director of Public Prosecution in which they say they have no yet decided to charge the people who were in the house and will only do so after the conclusion of the current trial.
Adv Mshololo has brought up the letter on the decision of the National Director Public Prosecution on the second docket which states, a “decision (on the second docket) will be made at the conclusion of the current trial.”#sabcnews #SenzoMeyiwaTrial #SenzoMeyiwa
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) July 24, 2023
Stylish as always, wearing a white coat and a while woolly hat, Zandile appeared much more confident and at times cocky – a stark contrast of the image she projected last week when she would at times break down in sobs and request comfort breaks.
She would not allow Mshololo cut her short in her answers, telling her, “I am not done yet. Allow me to answer and when I am done, I will indicate to you” and at one point asking her, “Are you suggesting that Senzo took the gun from the suspect and shot himself?”
“You don’t ask me question. So, will you answer the question?” retorted Mshololo.
“I don’t understand the question,” pulling a face, Zandile hit back!
Zandile has told the court that as far as she knew, Longwe did not have a gun and on the day of the shooting she never saw him carrying any gun.
Asked if she wanted the court to believe her version, that unarmed, Longwe had stood up and pushed the gun-totting alleged first intruder, she cheekily responded, “You could also ask him where he got that kind of bravery.”
Issues of crime scene tampering once again emerged during the cross-examination, as Mshololo brought statements by Sylvia Ngubeni and her daughter, Gugu, who have deposed statement that they had witnessed neighbour, Maggie Phiri picking up cans from inside the house after the shooting. This they say was because Maggie Phiri, in her own words, said she didn’t want the police to know that the people who were in the house were drinking alcohol.
“Maggie Phiri started to pick up the empties from the floor. I asked her she was tidying up the place before the police could arrive at the scene. Maggie responded that she doesn’t want the police to see that the people who were in the house were drinking.” #SABCNews #SenzoMeyiwa
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) July 24, 2023
“Myself, Gugu and Julia then went outside and she later came out.”
Can you see someone cleaned the house while you went to the hospital?
Zandi: I wouldn’t be able to testify on what other people said. But she wrote it down meaning she has evidence for it. #SABCNews #SenzoMeyiwa
— Sipho King K Kekana (@KingKAzania) July 24, 2023
The trial will continue on Tuesday.
Senzo Meyiwa Murder trial | Alternative version of events emerges during Khumalo’s cross-examination:
