Zolile Khumalo's ex-boyfriend told officer he 'killed her’, court hears

Durban - THE police officers who attended the crime scene after Mangosuthu University of Technology student Zolile Khumalo was shot and killed at the Lonsdale Hotel last year, told the Durban High Court on Monday that her ex-boyfriend confessed to the murder on the scene.

Sergeant Mthandeni Nzimande said Thabani Mzolo, 23, emerged from Khumalo’s room with his hands up. When asked what had happened, he said, “I killed her.”

Mzolo, who abandoned his bail application, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

It is alleged that Mzolo shot and killed Khumalo in full view of her room mate on May 1 last year.

Nzimande said Mzolo did not have anything on him when he searched him. He said a firearm believed to be the murder weapon was later brought to him by his colleague while he was putting Mzolo into the police van.

While the patrol van took Mzolo to the police station, he returned to the crime scene with the firearm tucked in his pants.

He told his colleague, Constable Mhlongo, who had found the gun, to place it back where he had found it.

He said there were witnesses in the room.

“The woman was crying hysterically. There was a cellphone on the table next to the door and a sling bag on the bed. According to the male witness, the cellphone belonged to Mzolo,” said Nzimande.

Under cross-examination by advocate Ndumiso Xulu, Nzimande said he handled the gun with his bare hands as he did not have gloves at the time.

He said the gun was later taken by a ballistics expert.

Xulu said that Nzimande’s version was different from that of Mhlongo’s, who testified that the gun never left the room.

“The problem is that Mhlongo testified that you came back to the room and he handed you the firearm in the room. According to him, the firearm never left the room,” said Xulu.

Nzimande denied this, saying Mhlongo was mistaken because he had brought the firearm to him downstairs.

Warrant Officer Lawrance Nadasen, another state witness, said he arrived at the scene shortly after midnight to find a woman on the floor with blood around her. She had been shot in the face and on her right arm. The same arm was also fractured.

“I also noticed that there was a firearm and a cellphone on the table next to the door, and a bag on top of the bed,” he said.

He said he later went to see Mzolo at the police cells to confirm if the cellphone belonged to him.

“I showed him the cellphone and asked him if it belonged to him and his response was, ‘I shot her because she cheated on me,’ said Nadasen.

The trial continues.

Daily News