Senzo Meyiwa trial: Defence grills cop over stops made after accused confessed

Multiple stops made by the police on the day Senzo Meyiwa murder-accused Bongani Ntanzi allegedly confessed raised eyebrows from the defence on Thursday.

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria continued to hear evidence about the police’s car movements which escorted Ntanzi on different days.

A trial-within-a-trial is taking place to determine the admissibility of confession statements, pointing out and warning statements by the accused in the main trial.

Car movements in sharp focus

The defence had grilled police officer Vusumuzi Mogane on Wednesday about Ntanzi being booked out for at least 17 hours on 18 June 2020, when the accused was transported to his former workplace in Carletonville.

The trip to the Sibanye Gold Mine was made to verify the suspect’s whereabouts on the day Meyiwa was killed on 26 October 2014, and the police discovered Ntanzi was not at work, which was corroborated by a previous witness.

According to Mogane, the police were en-route to Alberton from Carletonville with Ntanzi to investigate other cases when the Toyota Fortuner they travelled in started experiencing problems.

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This forced them to a lengthy stop at a petrol station in Alberton at around 6.30pm as shown in the Fortuner’s automatic vehicle locator (AVL) records.

The defence contended some of Mogane’s evidence was consistent with Ntanzi’s version about him being taken to an open area in Alberton next to a filling station where he was assaulted.

Ntanzi, who was arrested on 16 June, claimed he was beaten up and tortured by the police before being forced to sign a confession statement the next day on 19 June 2020.

Stopped three times

Advocate Thulani Mngomezulu continued to question Mogane about the vehicle tracking records during court proceedings on Thursday.

Mngomezulu focused on the events before and after Ntanzi was taken to Moroka police station to make a confession on 19 June.

“My worry is you stopped three times before you reached Moroka police station,” the defence lawyer told Mogane.

The state witness, however, said he won’t be able to respond to three stops per say.

“The only stop I remember is when we went to buy water, but maybe I made a mistake. You can show me where it says we stopped,” he replied.

Mogane previously testified he made two trips to Moroka Police Station.

READ MORE: Senzo Meyiwa trial: Defence argues accused thought he was going to be released

The first time was to escort Ntanzi for his confession, while the second trip was made because the late Sergeant Steven Mabena had forgotten his keys and a USB drive at the station.

Mngomezulu questioned why the second stop at the station was nearly two hours long.

“At 16:16 the vehicle is switched off until 18:28. Were you still fetching the keys and USB?” the advocate asked.

“As I have explained before, we arrived at the Moroka Police Station and Sergeant Mabena went inside. I think he was assisted at the charge office with calling the particular person whom he had left his keys and the USB with.

“As it was a Friday people had already knocked off when we arrived. He explained they had informed him the person was coming back to the station. That was the reason we spent so much time there,” the police officer told the court.

Watch the trial below:

AVL records not needed

Mngomezulu put it to Mogane that Ntanzi only appeared at the Tlhabane Magistrate’s Court in Rustenburg for the first time on 13 July 2020, which Mogane denied.

The court previously heard the accused was taken to court on 22 June where he appeared on a charge of unlawful possession of ammunition.

Ntanzi had also been taken to the dentist on this day.

The defence lawyer told Mogane on Thursday that without car tracking records there was nothing to prove that his client appeared on 22 June.

“I don’t have the records for the AVL records neither the logbook of the vehicle you were driving on the 22nd of June and yet you want the court to believe that accused number two is misleading the court,” Mngomezulu said.

But the police officer said the records were not needed because the charge sheet confirmed Ntanzi’s appearance in court on the day in question.

“We have evidence here [in court],” Mogane said.

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