State witness insists Kelly Khumalo spoke to one of the accused before Meyiwa’s death

A state witness has maintained that one of the five men accused in Senzo Meyiwa’s murder called his then-girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, twice before the former Bafana Bafana captain was killed.

Retired cellphone data analyst Colonel Lambertus Steyn returned to the witness stand in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday.

Last week, Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng ruled in favour of the state by recalling Steyn to clarify his evidence.

This related to the two calls Khumalo allegedly received from accused five, Fisokuhle Ntuli, prior to Meyiwa’s murder on 26 October 2014.

A previous state witness, Vodacom Forensic Liaison Supervisor Pinky Vythilingam, could not confirm the calls, prompting the defence to accuse the state of fabricating a case against Khumalo.

Khumalo ‘rebooted’ her phone

In his affidavit, Steyn explained that, upon receiving the records from the investigating officer, he used a program called AMB.

This program processes all the data received from service providers and cellphone downloads to establish linkages.

“The AMB program can be used for anything… It can even tell you where [a person] was at the time of the call,” he said on Monday.

The analyst, who retired in November last year, testified in court that the program would reference cellphone numbers instead of identifying individuals by name.

Steyn stated that the cellphone number ending with 4358 was associated with Khumalo.

“Kelly Khumalo was not a suspect but was treated as a person of interest.”

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Ntuli’s cellphone number, ending with 9202, was discovered on Khumalo’s mobile device.

“This number is being confirmed by eNatis and Nedbank account statements of accused five.”

The witness said Khumalo “rebooted” her cellphone in the early hours of the morning on 27 October 2014, hours after Meyiwa died.

“That’s why it did not have the complete memory of downloads of the phonebook.”

Steyn previously testified that the “device boot-up” indicated that some or all of the phone’s memory was wiped.

Watch the trial below:

Two calls

The retired police officer maintained that Khumalo and Ntuli communicated on 2 August and 15 October 2014, before the murder.

He stated that the first call lasted one minute and 50 seconds, while the second call had a duration of one minute and 38 seconds.

The first call Khumalo received was a data call, as she was using BlackBerry’s internet service.

“During that time, she was using data. The court must keep in mind that this information won’t be at the disposal of Vodacom because it is coming straight from the downloads.”

The second call made to Khumalo was a voice call via airtime.

“It’s a normal way of calling. It’s not data,” Steyn explained.

Five men on trial for Meyiwa’s murder

Meyiwa was fatally shot while visiting Khumalo at her mother’s residence in Vosloorus, Gauteng.

Khumalo allegedly ordered the hit on her former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper, according to Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and Bongani Ntanzi’s confession statements.

Ntuli, Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube and Mthokoziseni Maphisa are on trial for Meyiwa’s murder.  

They face charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicenced firearm, and possession of ammunition.

All five men have pleaded not guilty.

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