By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The murder case against five men accused of killing former Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa is set to resume on Thursday.
The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria will deliver its ruling on the trial-within-a-trial after hearing closing arguments from the state and defence on Monday.
Since last week, the State and the defence were submitting their final arguments at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria following a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of the confession statements.
The trial within a trial has been running since October 2023 to determine the admissibility of the confessions allegedly made by Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi and Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya.
Ntanzi and Sibiya, claim they were severely assaulted by police and were forced to sign confession statements implicating themselves and others in the murder of the former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper.
They were both arrested in 2020 but on different dates and in different areas.
However, they gave the same version regarding how they were tortured and assaulted by officers who were investigating the Meyiwa murder.
They both had the same legal representatives who spent over three months trying to cast doubt on the evidence which was presented by the police regarding what transpired when they were arrested.
They were represented by advocate Sipho Ramosepele and advocate Thulani Mngomezulu.
However, when the matter resumed after two weeks of recess, Sibiya abandoned Ramosepele and stated that he will only be represented by Mngomezulu.
During proceedings, Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng confirmed that he will deliver his ruling on Thursday after having considered all the evidence and submissions by the state and the defence.
“This court has to review the evidence, consider the evidence and determine whether the state which carries the burden to prove that the statements, confessions and pointing out allegedly by accused one and two were made freely and voluntarily in their sober and sane senses without any coercion as determined in Section 35(f) of our Constitution,” the judge said.
The ruling, however, won’t be “a full-blooded judgment”, Mokgoatlheng pointed out.
“It will be a ruling and such a ruling by its nature as determined by convention and the law is relative and not final because at this juncture, this court is not seized with the rest of the evidence.”
“This court can’t determine at this stage how that evidence, which is going to be led by the state and if it is led by the defence in rebuttal, is going to impact, affect, diminish [or] increase the evidence that will be led in the merits of the case.”
Earlier, defence lawyer, Ramosepele made his closing arguments before the court.
Describing the circumstances surrounding Sibiya’s arrest, Ramosepele argued that the prolonged use of handcuffs was a means of torture.
“He was in those tightly squeezed handcuffs for eight hours plus,” the defence lawyer said.
“Accused number one says my hands were swollen and he was bleeding from the hands. It was not little bits or droplets of blood.”
In his reply, state prosecutor George Baloyi disputed the defence’s arguments.
“It must be shown that a fundamental right as entrenched in the bill of rights has been infringed. The weight of the evidence in our submission is that the statements were not obtained in a manner that violates any right in the Constitution,” Baloyi said.
Five men — Ntanzi, Sibiya, Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa, and Fisokuhle Nkani Ntuli are standing trial for Meyiwa’s murder.
Meyiwa was killed on October 26, 2014, while visiting his singer girlfriend Kelly Khumalo at her home in Vosloorus, East of Johanensburg.