Forensics expert put under pressure at Senzo Meyiwa’s murder trial

“The only thing that will set you free, Mr Mosia, before this court, is the truth. And you are going to tell the truth.”

That was one of a number of testy exchanges between Advocate Zandile Mshololo for accused Sifiso Ntuli and witness Sergeant Thabo Mosia on Tuesday, continuing the trend of putting the forensics expert under pressure at Senzo Meyiwa’s murder trial.

“Where there any tests done to see or to check if the people who were inside the house at the time the shooting took place were under the influence of liquor?” Mshololo asked Mosia, who said no tests were done.

The advocate said it was part of a forensics examination which should have been done but wasn’t because Mosia “didn’t have qualifications. Is that not so?”

Mosia said forensics on its own was “very broad and I would like to bring it to the attention of this court I am a criminalistic expert even though I was introduced incorrectly in this court”. Mosia said he had obtained certification through a five-year training programme which ended in 2013, a year before Senzo’s killing.

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Mshololo continued to poke holes in Mosia’s competency and testimony by suggesting the scene had been compromised before Mosia had even arrived, and that a bullet head had been found on the kitchen table by Mosia’s second visit – essentially suggesting the evidence was planted.

On Monday, the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria heard that the crime scene had been tampered with before police arrived. Mosia was the first forensic officer to arrive at singer Kelly Khumalo’s home where her boyfriend and Bafana Bafana captain was shot dead in 2014.

After insisting the crime scene had not been tampered with, Mosia admitted he found no blood stains on the kitchen floor despite having led testimony that Meyiwa was shot in the kitchen and it was alleged that he had bled a lot.

Mthobisi Mncube, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifiso Ntuli have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition. The trial continues.