A police officer who downloaded information from a phone belonging to accused number three in the murder trial of Bafana Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa testified that they found a picture of a gun titled, “my killing machine’’.
Sergeant Moses Mabasa testified on Tuesday in the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria.
He is attached to the South African Police Service (SAPS) as an analyst. He explained that his responsibility was to analyse the contents of cellphones, such as incoming and outgoing calls and messages.
Mabasa told the court that on August 17, 2020, he received a folder that had a device, SIM card and memory card that belonged to accused number three, Mthobisi Mncube.
He compiled the images he downloaded from Mncube’s phone and went through them one by one.
In one of the pictures, he said there was an image of a firearm that looked silver and gold.
The gun had a caption written, “my killing machine.”
He further described the gun as a 9mm pistol.
Mncube’s phone also had a picture with R100 and R200 notes saved as ''Impande yesono’’ which means “The root of all evil’’.
In another picture, with the same notes inside a plastic, he captioned the image, ''Igugu Lomhlaba'' which means "Treasure of the world”.
He also had a picture with R50, R100 and R200 notes and saved it as ''Ngiyofa nini ngikhohlwe’’ which means “When am I going to die so that I can forget?"
Last Thursday, Colonel Lambertus Steyn, who is an analyst and investigating officer at the SAPS Cold Case Unit, told the court that cellphone images downloaded by the police upon Mncube’s arrest in an unrelated firearm case showed that he had dreadlocks a day before and on the day of Meyiwa’s murder.
He also told the court that they had found pictures taken a day before the murder. These pictures showed that Mncube had been wearing the same beige-coloured clothes which he was alleged to have been wearing on the day of the murder.
Several witnesses testified that one of the intruders had dreadlocks.
Meyiwa was gunned down at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo’s Vosloorus home in a suspected robbery, on October 26, 2014.
Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, Mncube and Ntuli are on trial for the murder of Meyiwa in 2014.
The trial continues.
IOL