Senzo Meyiwa trial: State accused of fabricating data to frame Kelly Khumalo

The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial has poked holes in the state’s case as evidence showed that one of the accused, Mthobisi ‘Carlos’ Mncube, was in Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD) when the former Bafana Bafana captain was fatally shot.

Mncube’s cellphone records continued to be dissected by the defence on Wednesday in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, where five men are on trial for the murder of Meyiwa.

The footballer was shot dead while visiting his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, at her mother’s house in Vosloorus, on 26 October 2014.

Cellphone data scrutinised

Under cross-examination, Mncube’s legal representative, Charles Mnisi, continued to grill Pinky Vythilingam, who is a forensic liaison supervisor at Vodacom, over the cellphone records of his client.

This follows Mnisi’s contention on Tuesday that records show Mncube was not in Vosloorus at the time of Meyiwa’s murder, which is believed to have occurred around 8pm.

Although Mncube was in Vosloorus earlier in the day, his cellphone movements placed him at Jeppe Street in Johannesburg CBD around 6pm, while his last cellphone activity was picked up by a tower in the the city at 8.32pm, according to the data.

Mnisi told Vythilingam on Wednesday that Kelly’s sister, Zandile Khumalo, testified in court that two intruders, one of whom is alleged to be Mncube, entered her mother’s residence between 7:30pm and 8pm.

“At that time between 7:30pm and 8pm in the evening of the 26th October 2014, in terms of the cellphone data in respect of the cellphone ending 8169, where does the data indicate the phone was?” the advocate asked the state witness.

“The entry for the 26th of October 2014, I have at 19:23. The tower reflecting there is Goud Street. At 19:34 is Mooi Street, 19:41 Mooi Street and then 20:08 Goud Street. If we look at our map, it should reflect around the CBD area,” Vythilingam replied.

Watch the trial below:

The defence lawyer put it to the witness that Mncube stayed at the George Goch hostel in Johannesburg, which is why his cellphone movements were picked up by the tower.

“Now, accused number three, if needs be, he will come and tell this court he always has his phone in his possession. He would only hand it over to somebody when photos are being taken, but he is the sole possessor of his phone.

“That is also the case on the day of 26 October 2014 as his cellphone data indicates that his last activity on the phone was picked up by Goud Street [tower] at 20:32 in the evening when he went to sleep.

“[The phone] had always been in his possession. He never gave it to anybody else. He slept [and] when he woke in the morning, his phone was next to him,” Mnisi argued.

Kelly Khumalo calls

Mnisi then turned to the alleged calls between Kelly Khumalo and accused five, Fisokuhle Ntuli.

It is alleged that Kelly received two phone calls from Ntuli prior to his murder as per the testimony of cellphone data analyst, Colonel Lambertus Steyn.

The first call was made on 2 August 2014, followed by another on 15 October 2014.

The advocate argued the cellphone records compiled by Steyn and Vodacom’s data had “discrepancies”.

READ MORE: Senzo Meyiwa trial: Defence asks why Kelly Khumalo wasn’t arrested

“You know when I went through information I got tempted to call Mark Zuckerberg and say to him how does this happen,” he said.

But Vythilingam stated that she could only comment on Vodacom’s set of data as she was familiar with it.

The witness agreed that part of Steyn’s data on the 15 October call did not correspond with the information on her affidavit.

Defence alleges fraud

Mnisi suggested that the difference in the data could be a misrepresentation of facts and this constituted fraud.

“Why do I say that? It is because it differs materially from the information that is prepared by an expert who is you… who has painstakingly explained how information is safeguarded in their system.

“How this fraud was committed I don’t know, but with the technology these days everything is possible. [This is] manipulation of information as it is happening here.”

“No comment,” Vythilingam responded.

READ MORE: Senzo Meyiwa trial: Defence suggests state has ‘deliberately omitted crucial evidence’

The defence lawyer alleged that the data was fabricated to make it seem like there was indeed communication between Kelly Khumalo and Ntuli.

“This was a villainous endeavour by the state to trump up a case against Kelly Khumalo that on these dates, she had a conversation with accused number five. The number that ends with 9202 belongs to accused number five, that’s an open secret.”

He added that he has been instructed to lay a formal complaint against the “compilers of this information” on the accused’s behalf.

“That complaint will be premised on fraud and attempt to defeating ends of justice because this information is misleading the court,” Mnisi concluded.