Senzo Meyiwa trial: Cop explains why there were ‘discrepancies’ in his evidence

A state witness in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial sought to patch up the inconsistencies in his testimony as he was grilled by the defence.

Warrant officer Thabo Mosia returned to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday for further cross-examination.

The defence had requested for Mosia to come back to the witness stand to provide clarity on some issues he testified about.

Pocketbook

The former constable had detailed how he collected and processed all the evidence from the Vosloorus family home of Meyiwa’s then-girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo, where the former Bafana Bafana captain was shot on 26 October 2014.

The defence, however, grilled Mosia about how he failed to collect crucial evidence and alleged that the crime scene had already been compromised.

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Mosia revealed in court that he left the Meyiwa murder scene to attend to two other crime scenes, later returning to the Khumalo household around 6am on 27 October.

The officer indicated that he used a pocketbook to record his movements. This has since showed that he returned to the scene at 10:25am.

‘I was on incapacity leave’

On Tuesday, Mosia said he was fit to testify after having complained that the witness stand had affected his health in his previous court appearance.

Continuing with his cross-examination, Advocate Zithulele Nxumalo, representing Mthokoziseni Maphisa, quizzed Mosia about the dissimilarity between his evidence in court and his pocketbook which was recently provided to the defence.

But Mosia defended his testimony, saying he was forced to prepare without the pocketbook.

“I was on standby and when I prepared this evidence pertaining to this matter I was on incapacity leave. I had to go to Springs to search for documents that would assist me to prepare my evidence for this court.

“But when I got to Springs I found that the documents had already been booked out by the provincial crime scene management. I could not even find my pocketbook… and that actually affected the manner in which I was trying to prepare to come to court,” he said.

 READ MORE: Senzo Meyiwa trial: Accused’s gun was stolen during cash-in-transit robbery, court hears

The witness stressed that he relied on statements that he had made prior to testifying.

“With the statement I had found, I did not have the certainty that it was going to be the statement that was going to form part of the second docket that I found here in court. And that is one of the reasons why there was a confusion of my evidence towards the end,” Mosia explained.

Mosia had previously told the court that the pocketbook could not be found at the criminal records centre in Springs in 2022.

He also disputed the suggestion that he did not go to other crime scenes after leaving the Khumalo household at the time Meyiwa was killed.

Watch the proceedings below:

“Which is the correct time as to your arrival at the crime scene on your second visit?” Nxumalo asked.

Mosia, in his response, said he was unsure about the time and inisted that it had been a long time after the incident.

“I believe there is an error pertaining to this entry of mine in the pocketbook because if I remember well, according to the explanation of the crime scene management, it said they arrived on the scene of the incident around 9am. I was already there at the scene; that’s why I think there was a mistake with the entry in the pocketbook,” he further said.

The trial continues.

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