Pretoria - The cross-examination of forensic officer Sergeant Thabo Johannes Mosia in the Senzo Meyiwa murder case hit a snag in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday.
Proceedings had to be halted due to technical challenges with the court recording machinery.
The court was forced to adjourn the proceedings early as the machine that records proceedings for records and references was reportedly not recording the case properly.
The matter adjourned briefly to allow court officials to attend to the machine. However, upon return Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela, the State and both defence counsel decided to adjourn the matter to afford the officials time to attend to the machine.
Mosia, testifying as the first forensic officer on the scene the night Meyiwa was shot, was still under cross-examination by advocate Zandile Mshololo, the defence counsel for the fifth accused, Sifisokuhle Ntuli.
Mshololo’s cross-examination continued to challenge the officer’s competence in attending to the crime scene, especially taking into consideration the number of evidence he neglected to collect during his visits to Kelly Khumalo’s family home in Vosloorus.
During early appearances, Mshololo called into question why the officer had neglected to collect some of the evidence, failed to test for gunshot residue from the house occupants, as well as why he had not tested Meyiwa’s BMW X6, which was allegedly used to transport him to the nearby Botshelong hospital.
She also read out two witness statements which revealed that the crime scene had been cleaned and objects removed before the arrival of the police.
As requested on Monday, the officer brought some of his qualifications to court, showing that he had obtained a B-Tech degree from Unisa for which he graduated in October 2019.
Mosia informed the court that he had completed a number of internal SAPS courses from 2008 up to 2013 which resulted in him being regarded as a criminal expert.
Pretoria News