By: Tsholofelo Tsoku
The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa trial asserts that on the night the footballer was gunned down, three shots were fired and not 2 as the state alleges.
Defence Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu continued his cross-examination of Colonel Chris Mangena relating to the testimony he gave last year.
Mangena told the court that the projectile found on the scene was fired from the same gun that was confiscated from the accused no. 3, Mthobisi Mncube’s room in 2015.
Advocate Mngomezulu put it to the court that one of the bullets injured Longwe Twala, the second injured Zandie Khumalo and the third killed Meyiwa.
Colonel Chris Mangena denied that he removed any physical evidence from the crime scene.
Mangena’s defence lawyer Sipho Ramosepele read a statement from a warrant officer, accusing the ballistic expert of having taken a spent gun cartridge at the scene.
Mangena explained the process he undertook to conclude that the gun found had links to the murder.
Last year, DNA expert Mampshedi Masetla told the Pretoria High Court that DNA samples do not place any of the 5 men accused at the Senzo Meyiwa crime scene.
Masetla gave evidence which included samples taken from inside the Khumalos’ family home in Vosloorus, all of which could not conclusively prove that the men accused of killing the footballer were in the home on the night of his murder.
DNA samples were taken from a door handle and a hat that some witnesses claimed to belong to one of the two armed men who allegedly barged into Kelly Khumalo’s family home.
According to Masetla the reference samples of DNA taken from Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi and Mthobisi Prince Mncube, do not match all regions of the sample swabs.
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