Pretoria - The five men accused of the 2014 murder of former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.
As the trial looking into the murder of the former Bafana Bafana player got under way in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria earlier today, state prosecutor advocate George Baloyi read out the charges against the men.
Baloyi detailed the charges, the first being a charge for the murder of Meyiwa on October 26 2014 whilst at Kelly Khumalo's home in Vosloorus.
The second charge is that of attempted murder in that the accused shot at Lauraine Khumalo.
The third charge was for robbery with aggravating circumstances after the accused allegedly assaulted Kelly Khumalo and Gladness Khumalo, while taking Khumalo’s Samsung S4 cell phone.
As well as possession of an unlicensed 9mm pistol and the possession of an unknown amount of ammunition.
Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokoziseni Maphisa, and Sifisokuhle Ntuli; pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against them.
Earlier on the court heard from advocate Malesela Teffo, the legal defence for accused one to four, who told the court that Mncube had allegedly been assaulted by a correctional services officer without a name tag on April 12.
He also informed the court how correctional services officers had prevented him from consulting with the accused in court today, alleging he had to speak to them at correctional facilities instead.
Teffo indicated that even with a colleagues attempts to explain the accused his Constitutional rights to consult, the officer simply said: "To hell with that."
As a result of the abuse Teffo requested Mncube be removed from the Kgosi-Mampuru II Correctional facility and rather be returned to the Johannesburg correctional facility.
He added that once again the accused had been placed in the maximum security section of the prison which violated his Constitutional rights.
Proceeding
Pretoria News