By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Data analyst Gideon Gouws has revealed a damning cellphone evidence in the North Gauteng High Court on Monday, showing critical communication between the accused.
Gouws explained how the data showed frequent contact among the suspects around the time of footballer Senzo Meyiwa’s murder.
Meyiwa was shot and killed on the 26th of October 2014 while at Kelly Khumalo’s parental home in Vosloorus on Gauteng’s East Rand.
Five men are on trial at the High Court in Pretoria for Meyiwa’s murder.
Gouws was going through phone records from numbers that allegedly belong to the accused.
He began his testimony by discussing Section 205 applications that the defense had requested.
Gouws testified that accused number one, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, called accused number four, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, 19 times.
He said this while reading a summary of the suspects’ cellphone interactions.
He told the court: “Ten of those phone calls went through; nine were forwarded, and this happened between June 18, 2018 and February 18, 2020.
“Accused one contacted accused number two, Bongani Ntanzi, 18 times. Ten times, the other eight times, the phone was not answered and went to voicemail.
“Sibiya also contacted accused number five 44 times. Those were direct calls. Communication was between June 16, 2018 and April 7, 2020.”
According to Gouws’ testimony, Ntanzi called only two of his co-accused, accused numbers one and five.
“He contacted accused number one 16 times; 11 of those were direct calls and five diverted between November 13, 2018 and April 5, 2020.
“He then contacted accused five, Ntuli, twice between April 6 and December 9, 2020. Ntanzi further contacted the accused using a different number on December 10, 2019.”
Gouws continued: “Accused number three, Mthobisi Mncube, contacted accused number four, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, 41 times. Eleven direct calls, 19 call forwards, and 11 SMS’s. That’s between June 22, 2018 and December 4, 2020.
“Maphisa contacted the accused 14 times. Twelve were direct calls and two were call forwards, and this was between July 22, 2018 and February 19, 2020. He contacted accused five Fisokuhle Ntuli 127 times.
“One-hundred and twenty-five direct calls and two SMS’s were made between September 29, 2018 and October 28, 2020. He contacted Ntuli two times on another number. All were direct calls on July 19, 2020.
“He then contacted the accused three 48 times; 20 direct calls, 25 call forwards, and three SMS’s between July 16, 2018 and March 2, 2021.
“Accused five Fisokuhle Ntuli contacted accused number one, Sibiya, 35 times. Twenty-eight direct calls and seven diverted calls. This was between June 10, 2018 and April 22, 2020.
This data evidence is expected to play a crucial role in the trial, helping to establish the presence and interactions of the accused on the day of the murder.