The state has poked holes in the application made by the lawyer of accused number five in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case in which she said the delay in getting the second docket in the matter has violated her client's rights to a fair trial.
Yesterday, Adv Zandile Mshololo made a special entry application to the court in which she said her client, Sifisokuhle Ntuli, was denied crucial information contained in the second docket, which could have helped him better prepare for his trial.
Mshololo told the court that the contents of the second docket 375/01/2019 which accuses Meyiwa's girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, her mother Gladness, sister Zandile, Zandile's then boyfriend Longwe Twala and two of Meyiwa’s friends of killing him, should have been given to her client before he pleaded to the charges.
She said her client would have pleaded differently had he known the contents of the second docket and also would not have chosen to exercise his right to remain silent.
She said the second docket is relevant to the court’s current proceedings as there is evidence in it and also in the first docket which was opened in 2014, the year Meyiwa was killed.
Mshololo said the second docket contains photos taken from the crime scene the day after Meyiwa was killed.
“That information is crucial to this trial. The second docket contains the statement of Sgt Thabo Mosia who is testifying before this court. In that statement he is contradicting himself.
“The second docket contains the statement of Brig Ndlovu... who has been referred by Mosia as somebody who played a role in the investigation of this matter.
“That statement has not been disclosed when it contains material evidence regarding the involvement of evidence of Sgt Mosia who is on the witness box. That information ought to have been supplied to the defence,” Mshololo said.
Mshololo’s application was made according to section 86 of the Criminal Procedure Act which provides that the accused must be furnished with all relevant information for their trial.
But prosecutor Adv George Baloyi dismissed Mshololo’s move, saying its timing was wrong.
Baloyi said there was a discussion between the state and then lawyer of accused one to four Adv Malesela Teffo and someone who was representing Mshololo on March 17, long before the accused pleaded to the charges.
Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Ntuli have been charged with premeditated murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of firearms without a licence and illegal possession of ammunition.
Baloyi said it was in that meeting that the state disclosed the existence of the second docket but Mshololo’s representative did not ask for it. “If we were asked to give particulars [of the docket] we would have done so,” Baloyi said.
He added that the application for a special entry can only done after the accused has been found guilty as ground to launch an appeal.
“The application for a special entry is premature and ought to be dismissed. The special entries are a route to the appeal court and therefore presupposes that there must be a verdict of guilty. We are making submission that there has not been such a verdict,” he said.
Baloyi argued that after the docket was disclosed to Mshololo, she was given over two months to go through it, which “mitigated” against any disadvantage she might have suffered.
Statements made in the second docket can be used to question the credibility of the witness in the current trial, Baloyi said.
A neighbour of Khumalos, Maggie Phiri, is also accused of defeating the ends of justice for allegedly clearing up the scene after Meyiwa was shot.
The trial continues.
dlaminip@sowetan.co.za
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.