Pretoria – A member of the SAPS crime prevention unit based at Vosloorus police station, Sergeant Patrick Mlungisi Mthethwa, one of the first officers who rushed to the house where Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Robert Meyiwa had been shot in October 2014, has taken the stand.
Coming in as the second witness to testify in the high-profile court case, Mthethwa told the High Court in Pretoria how he, and a colleague, went to the Khumalo house, where Meyiwa had been shot.
Mthethwa, a police officer with 13 years under his belt, told Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela how he sprang into action with his partner Sergeant Mathebula, following a distress call of a “shooting in progress”.
However, Mthethwa said when they arrived in a marked SAPS vehicle, they only found Themba Khumalo, an uncle of Kelly Khumalo, who confirmed that there has been a shooting and Meyiwa had been rushed to a nearby hospital.
Mthethwa said the officers briefly entered the house, with Themba’s assistance, and they saw two alcohol cans lying on the floor.
He said before the officers left the home for the hospital, neighbours came and told the police officers that they had observed two people running from the house towards a municipal park opposite the property.
At the hospital, Mthethwa told the court how he saw the lifeless body of Meyiwa lying on a bed.
“When we got into the hospital, it was full. We met a woman who said she was MaKhumalo. Before we met MaKhumalo, we met a nurse who led us to where the (shot) person was. The nurse pointed out the person to us, and we saw that he had been shot and he had passed away,” Mthethwa said.
“The person (Meyiwa) was lying on a bed. The victim is not someone I can say I knew personally, but I had often seen him on TV. I saw that it is a person I know from seeing him on television. It was Senzo Meyiwa lying there,” he said.
Asked by lead State prosecutor, advocate George Baloyi if he had observed Meyiwa’s body, Mthethwa said he did.
“I do not know if I am pointing precisely but there was a bullet hole somewhere around here,” said Mthethwa pointed around his chest.
“We then called our colleagues to come and represent us at the hospital, so that we could go back to the house. We wanted one member to go to the house with us,” he said.
After the backup arrived, Mthethwa said MaKhumalo agreed to go with them to the house, where the shooting had taken place.
At the house, MaKhumalo told the officers what had transpired earlier.
Police forensic expert Sergeant Thabo Johannes Mosia, the first witness called by the prosecution, concluded his testimony on Wednesday.
Meyiwa was killed on October 26,2014 while visiting his girlfriend and the mother of his child, singer Kelly Khumalo, in Vosloorus.
In the house that day were Meyiwa, Kelly and her younger sister, Zandile, their mother Ntombi Khumalo (MaKhumalo), Longwe Twala, Meyiwa’s friends Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala, Kelly’s then four-year-old son, Christian, and Thingo, her daughter with Meyiwa.
Five men, Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa and Sifokuhle Ntuli, are facing charges of murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as possession of ammunition.
All of the accused have pleaded not guilty.
The trial has adjourned until Friday.
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