The cellphone records of the men accused of killing former Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa were again scrutinised in court on Wednesday.
Cellphone data analyst Gideon Gouws returned to the witness stand for further cross-examination by the defence at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
Gouws examined the data extracted from the cellphones of accused two, Bongani Ntanzi, and accused five, Fisokuhle Ntuli.
Both of the accused’s phones had two SIM cards.
The analyst, in his evidence-in-chief, testified last month that the records showed Ntuli had been in contact with the other suspects.
Direct calls between men accused of Senzo Meyiwa’s murder
Under the cross-examination of accused four, Mthokoziseni Maphisa’s legal representative, Advocate Zithulele Nxumalo, Gouws revealed that accused four contacted accused one, Muzikawukhalelwa Sibiya 14 times.
The alleged communication took place between June 2018 and March 2021.
Maphisa was also in contact with Ntuli in more than 100 instances – including 125 direct calls and SMSs.
Accused four also directly called accused three, Mthobisi Mncube at least 20 times.
“Is it correct that you don’t have any evidence that you can produce to the court as to the contents of the conversations between the two communicating numbers?” Nxumalo asked Gouws.
“I can’t tell what was said… just [that] there was communication and they called each other,” the witness said in his response.
Nxumalo further told Gouws his client knew Sibiya because they are related.
“Mr Gouws, I’m going to tell you this for the first time, accused number four confirms that he knows accused number one; he is his nephew.”
“I don’t know about that,” the data analyst replied.
Suspect did not know co-accused
Earlier in the trial, Advocate Charles Mnisi, counsel for Mncube, questioned Gouws on whether his client had been in contact with all his co-accused.
According to the data, Mncube did not directly communicate with Ntanzi or Sibiya.
Mnisi told the witness that Mncube maintained his version that he did not know his co-accused and that only happened when they appeared in the court for the first time regarding Meyiwa’s murder.
Mnisi informed the witness that Mncube maintained his position that he did not know some of his co-accused, and this only happened when they appeared together in court for the first time in 2020.
“This aligns with his explanation. The fact that you did not find any communication between him, accused number one and accused number two is because he did not know them. He only started to know them when he appeared at Boksburg [Magistrate’s] Court when they were charged for this case.”
But Gouws was adamant that his testimony was given within the context of Ntuli’s number being associated with the other suspects.
“When I said it was established that a number had various communication with all the accused, I never said accused number one or three. That was in connection with accused number five.”
The defence lawyer contended that the alleged communication between Mncube and Ntuli shouldn’t come as a surprised since they had known each other prior to Meyiwa’s death.
“It is also accused number three’s assertion that he knew accused number five from way back. In other words, before this incident that is a subject of this trial here would have happened,” Mnisi said.
Mncube also does not deny knowing Maphisa.
It was previously heard in court that the number of linkages between the suspects were carried out by Colonel Lambertus Steyn, who testified last year.
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