The new presiding officer in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, retired Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng, dismissed the defence’s line of questioning that purported that the slain soccer star was left unattended after he was shot.
THE NEW presiding officer in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, retired Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng, dismissed the defence’s line of questioning that purported that the slain soccer star was left unattended after he was shot.
Advocate Zandile Mshololo, who represents one of the five men accused of brutally killing Meyiwa, was cross-examining Khaya Ngcatshe in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Ngcatshe is a neighbour of the Khumalo family in Vosloorus.
In his evidence, Ngcatshe said after learning that Meyiwa was shot, he ran down the road with other community members as they heard that there were people running away, however, when they got to the park, they never saw anyone.
Upon his return, he said he went to the Khumalo home where he saw Meyiwa inside the house lying with a wound to his chest.
“So you said by the time you returned from the park and went to the Khumalo home the deceased hadn’t received medical attention, there was no ambulance called?” Mshololo asked.
He replied, saying: “Yes, there was no help at that time”.
To which Mshololo enquired: “Where were Kelly Khumalo and her mother when you entered the house from the park?”
Ngcatshe responded, saying: “I only saw Kelly’s mother. I don’t recall seeing the others.”
Pushing the matter, Mshololo asked: “Was there any person who was assisting the deceased when you arrived?”
Ngcatshe replied, “When we appeared by the passage there was nobody assisting him.”
After Mshololo had concluded her cross-examination, Judge Mokgoatlheng said to paint a picture that Meyiwa was left unattended can’t be correct.
He said the court has heard evidence from Zandile Khumalo that she ran to the neighbours to get help.
Zandile testified that she had a mind-block after the shooting and couldn’t dial 10111 and ran to the neighbours to ask them to call police and an ambulance.
After Ngcatshe was done with his evidence, the State called its third witness, Nthabiseng Mokete.
Mokete lived a few houses away from the Khumalo house.
She was outside her home when the shooting happened.
Meyiwa was brutally murdered while visiting his girlfriend and mother of his child, Kelly Khumalo, at her home in Vosloorus in October 2014.
In the house that day were Meyiwa, Kelly Khumalo and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother, Ntombi Khumalo, Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends, Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
The trial continues.
