Pretoria - A decision will be made on Tuesday on the application brought by advocate Zandile Mshololo, the legal counsel for the fifth accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, whether the current trial proceedings are irregular and not according to the law.
Mshololo, the legal counsel for Sifisokuhle Ntuli, started proceedings by requesting that the letter by the National Prosecuting Authority in which docket 375 was said to be dealt with only once the proceedings in docket 636 were completed, was not communicated to the defence and should be declared irregular and unlawful.
She submitted that it was untrue to say that docket 375 formed no part of, or had no bearing on, the current trial before the court.
Mshololo’s application comes a week after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sibongile Mzinyathi, wrote a letter indicating that the 375 docket, which implicates Kelly Khumalo and those who were present at the crime scene, “has no merit”.
In the letter, Mzinyathi said docket 375 was an internal opinion from a junior State advocate and a final decision regarding the docket will only be made once the trial is concluded.
The docket, which was opened five years after Meyiwa’s murder in 2014, was exposed by advocate Malesela Teffo, who is the former legal representative for four of the five accused.
In the 375 case docket, police officers are of the view no intruder entered the homestead and the investigators believe the people who were with Meyiwa in the house must be arrested and charged for the gruesome murder
On Monday, the state indicated that it did not intend to hand this document to the court because it viewed it as irrelevant.
However, Mshololo said it would be in the interest of justice for it to be submitted to the court as it contained evidence which pertained to the violation of the accused’s constitutional right.
Mshololo said because her client was unaware of the second docket when he started pleading, that amounted to “an irregularity”.
All the accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.
“Docket 636 was opened in 2014; and docket 375/01/2019 was opened in 2019. The point I’m making before this honourable court is that the information contained in the second docket ought to have been disclosed to the applicant (Ntuli) before he pleaded.
“The State was well aware of the existence of this docket. To answer the question which says ‘Where does the infringement come from?’ It comes from the violation of Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Act which gives the applicant the right to request further particulars from the State,” Mshololo submitted.
The indictment of the second docket cites the suspects in the murder of Meyiwa as Longwe Twala, Kelly Khumalo, Gladness Khumalo, Zandi Khumalo, Tumelo Madlala, Mthokozisi Twala and Maggie Phiri.
Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthobisi Prince Ncube, Mthokoziseni Ziphozonke Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli are the other suspects facing murder charges for the murder of Meyiwa.
IOL