A police officer who was the first to be called to the murder scene of former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa, was subjected to intense questioning regarding how he and his colleagues poorly handled the crime scene upon arrival.
Sergeant Patrick Mlungisi Mthethwa told the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that he was with Officer Mathebula, as well as two students when they responded to a call of a shooting in Vosloorus in 2014.
On Tuesday, during cross-examination by advocate Zandile Mshololo, who represents one of the five men accused of killing Meyiwa, it was revealed that Mthethwa and his colleague went to the house and then left without securing the scene.
Mthethwa explained that they didn’t secure the crime scene because it didn’t appear that there was a crime committed at the time.
When they arrived at the house, they found a relative who identified himself as Themba Khumalo.
Khumalo explained that he was asked to look after the house and couldn’t give details on what had happened, however, he told the officers that everyone who was in the house when the incident occurred, had rushed to hospital and they should go there to get answers.
They left and requested that Khumalo lock the house as they headed to the hospital.
Mshololo was not satisfied with that explanation and insisted that a call informing them of a shooting should have sufficed for them to secure the scene.
"We always receive calls which later turn out to be false alarms. So we can’t go around securing every scene without even knowing the details or what’s happening, we had to get information first because it didn’t look like there was a crime committed,’’ he said.
Mshololo insisted that they were informed that there had been a shooting and that they should have secured the scene regardless of what they thought or saw.
"You left Mr Khumalo in the house, and you didn’t know who the suspects were at the time, and your duty was to safeguard the scene so that no one had access to it," she said.
Mthethwa agreed to what was put to him by Mshololo.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng questioned Mthethwa about whether they thoroughly examined the park where it was alleged that the suspects had run.
Mthethwa said they drove by and used their torches to see if there were people running, but they didn’t see anyone.
"But that was also a crime scene; didn’t you at least get out of the car?" asked Mokgoatlheng.
Mthethwa replied: "We didn’t think it was necessary; there was no one at the park, and from the car, you could see all angles because it’s a relatively small park.’’
Meyiwa was gunned down on October 26, 2014, while visiting singer girlfriend Kelly Khumalo in an alleged botched robbery in Vosloorus.
The people who were in the house on the day Meyiwa was murdered, were Kelly Khumalo and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother Ntombi Khumalo (MaKhumalo), Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends, Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifisokuhle Ntuli are on trial for the murder.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
IOL