By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The lead investigator in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, Brig Bongani Gininda told the court that Longwe Twala was not a person of interest in the murder of the soccer star.
This as advocate Charles Mnisi, representing Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Mthokozisi Mncube, asked about the picture of bag of money found on Mncube, Twala and Kelly Khumalo’s phones.
He had testified that a similar picture depicting a bag of money was found on their phones.
“You cannot focus on a person as a person of interest solely because of one bag or one piece of evidence. When it comes to Miss Kelly Khumalo, and I’ve testified about this, there are number of things that came up that seem to point to her as being the trigger point, and that is why I then said she was then viewed, in so far as the investigation is concerned, as a person of interest and subsequent application for the J50.”
Gininda previously testified that it had come up that Twala might have been the shooter, but he had to look at certain facts in the docket that led him to his conclusion that there were intruders.
Today’s proceedings focused on the suspects’ descriptions, confessions, and forensic evidence, particularly regarding the movements of accused 2 (Bongani Ntanzi) and 4 ( Mthokoziseni Maphisa) during the 2014 murder of Meyiwa.
Advocate Sipho Ramosepele pressed Gininda on the description provided to Warrant Officer Steenkamp about the second suspect.
“On the description they gave, it was said he was much taller than the first intruder, with a hoodie,” he said.
“Yes, although I don’t recall vividly. That was the description of the second suspect,” Gininda responded.
Taking over, Zithulele Nxumalo raised concerns about the location of his client, who is accused number 4.
“The one thing that is worrying is that you say my client was outside when the incident was taking place,” said Nxumalo.
But Gininda countered.
“I am saying if you look at accused 2’s confession, that is where you find the names of accused 2, 3 and 4. It is said accused 2 ran out while accused 4 was running into the house. So, if you take into account the DNA regions, you will see it corroborates,” Gininda replied.
Nxumalo asked if, according to Gininda’s evidence, his client is placed outside the house.
“No, both inside and out; as per the confession. It states that when accused 2 was running out, accused 4 was running inside the house,” Gininda clarified.
Nxumalo challenged the presence of a third suspect. He asked if there was any witness that said there were more than two people or a third person inside the house.
Said Gininda: “No, but this has reasons, because after the first shot went off, people ran out. How could they have seen what was happening?
“In fairness I cannot ignore evidence knowing the DNA analysis, even though not conclusive. Some of his DNA regions were read, and that placed part of his DNA inside the house,” he added.
Nxumalo said: “Your understanding is that accused 4 was inside the house from the confession of accused 2?
“The presence of his name comes from the confession and other evidence. I did mention Constable Sizwe Zungu. But prior to that, Gwabeni’s statement also mentions accused number 4,” said Gininda.
Nxumalo said: “None of the witnesses mentioned this. There is no evidence that a third suspect entered the house. It’s only coming up from you in your investigation.”
However, Gininda stood firm.
Meyiwa was with his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo at her mother’s house in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, and they were relaxing over lunch and watching a soccer match with Kelly’s sister Zandile, Zandile’s then-boyfriend Twala, and two of Meyiwa’s friends who were visiting from KwaZulu-Natal.
Mncube, Ntanzi, Sibiya, Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli are on trial for Meyiwa’s murder in October 2014.
They face charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition.
The trial has been postponed to July 21, for recess.