The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial has raised doubts about the credibility of a cellphone analyst’s testimony after alleged communication between the accused was established.
Gideon Gouws, the analyst in question, returned to the witness stand for further cross-examination by the defence in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Thursday.
During his evidence-in-chief, Gouws testified that the data extracted from the cellphones of accused two, Bongani Ntanzi, and accused five, Fisokuhle Ntuli, showed communication between all the accused.
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Additionally, a picture of a firearm downloaded from Facebook was found on a memory card retrieved from Ntanzi’s phone, along with an image of a news article about the Meyiwa case.
However, Ntanzi’s attorney, Sipho Ramosepele, challenged Gouws’s evidence, claiming that his client denied ever downloading a photograph of a gun on his SD card because his cellphone was in police custody.
Ramosepele stated that Ntanzi’s phones were confiscated immediately after his arrest in June 2020 and that he never had access to them again. The firearm image was downloaded on January 4, 2021, which Ramosepele argued was after Ntanzi’s arrest.
In response, Gouws stated that he could not comment on Ramosepele’s assertions, emphasizing that the data was created on the specific day and not by him personally.
Ramosepele further disputed Gouws’s claim that Ntanzi had changed his network service provider from Vodacom to Cell C, asserting that his client had always used Vodacom and MTN.
Gouws defended his testimony, explaining that the information regarding the network switch was extracted from the card itself.
Colonel Lambertus Steyn, who testified in court last year, linked two contact numbers to Ntanzi’s co-accused, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Fisokuhle Ntuli, on the Vodacom SIM card. These linkages were done as part of the investigation.
The court previously heard that one of the accused, Mthobisi Mncube, had photos of guns, ammunition, an axe, and a panga on his phone. One image, labeled “my killing machine,” depicted a firearm.
Senzo Meyiwa was shot and killed while visiting Kelly Khumalo at her mother’s residence in Vosloorus, Gauteng, on October 26, 2014. According to the confessions of Ntanzi and Sibiya, Khumalo allegedly ordered the hit on Meyiwa.
Ntanzi, Sibiya, Mncube, Ntuli, and Mthokoziseni Maphisa are currently on trial for the murder of the footballer. All five men have pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, illegal possession of a firearm, and illegal possession of ammunition.
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