Pretoria - As the trial looking into the murder of Senzo Meyiwa continued in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria yesterday, the State’s first witness, Sergeant Thabo Johannes Mosia, continued to assert he did nothing wrong and treated the scene like any other.
Mosia, a forensic officer attached to the Springs Criminal Record and Crime Scene management division, testified on his last day on the witness stand that he had left the murder scene where Meyiwa was shot, to attend to two other crime scenes.
He told advocate Zandile Mshololo, the defence counsel for accused Sifisokuhle Ntuli, that he attended to a complaint of a business robbery in Zonkizizwe, and a case of arson in Vosloorus wherein there was only one injury.
Mshololo asked why the officer had done this, as he had left a murder scene before recovering a bullet fragment on the basis that he had other cases to attend to.
Mosia said this was because he was the officer on standby on the night in question, covering four areas, namely Zonkizizwe, Vosloorus, Reiger Park and Springs.
“I treat all crime scenes the same, irrespective of the nature of the crime. I don’t prioritise any over the other.”
“I left the first crime scene because I had already done my duty there, and knew I left it (the crime scene) in the hands of other police officials. When I received these complaints I had to attend to that, but I did not see an error in my decision,” he said.
Mshololo also read out a statement in docket 375 by Mosia in which he states that Colonel Buthelezi requested a written statement regarding the murder scene at Vosloorus.
According to the statement, written on June 4, 2019, Mosia said Buthelezi explained that the reason for his statement was to explain the manner in which the crime scene was handled, as he was the first forensic investigator who visited the scene of the murder incident.
Mosia stressed that this request was not to be interpreted as him not having done his job, but only for him to detail how the scene was cordoned off when he arrived.
He said this was important as the incident of the murder scene was only reported four hours later, with the crime scene address not yet known at the time it was reported to him.
Instead, Mosia said he was told to go the hospital, with the delays before reporting the matter to the relevant role-players alluding to the possibility of the murder scene being compromised.
Legal counsel for the accused spent most of the time thwarting the State’s re-examination by highlighting that it was not allowed to introduce new evidence to the witness, as that should be done by the State when leading the evidence-in-chief.
The State, however, did manage to have Mosia concede that he did not question the witnesses at the crime scene, as that extended beyond his duties, and that although taking residue tests of the house occupants was part of his job, he did not do so as he believed there was no reason or information that led him to believe they were required.
State and defence counsel concluded after the evidence of Mosia.
Another witness is expected today.
Pretoria News