Pretoria - The contentious second docket in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial once again ruffled feathers and brought about tensions between the defence and Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday.
The case resumed late following a meeting between defence counsels, Judge Maumela and representatives of the media.
After the meeting, the media were allowed back into the courtroom after being kicked out on Wednesday.
All media houses were asked to leave the courtroom after visuals showing state witness Tumelo Madlala were picked up by the State.
The judge told the media that the taking of pictures during proceedings would no longer be allowed.
The matter continued with the cross-examination of Madlala, Meyiwa's boyhood friend, by the defence counsel for the fifth accused, advocate Zandile Mshololo.
Mshololo focused once again on docket 375, which called for the people inside the Vosloorus home of Kelly Khumalo when the soccer star was killed, to be charged with murder and defeating the ends of justice.
She told Madlala that he was aware that the decision to prosecute him and others was still to be made by the Director of Public Prosecutions after the conclusion of the current trial.
Madlala laughed and commented that “If Tumelo is wrong then Tumelo must go to jail”.
As Mshololo attempted to continue with her line of questioning, she was interrupted by advocate Thomas Thobane, the legal representative for accused one to four, who told the court he had been instructed to bring an application either after or before Madlala's testimony regarding letters from the Director of Public Prosecutions in Johannesburg, commenting on docket 375.
“We have been requested to make an application for review of these proceedings because these letters affect the way the witnesses are to testify. These letters put witnesses in a corner of whether they implicate themselves or not.”
This attempt was not welcomed by the judge, who butted heads with the defence counsel for once again attempting to interrupt or bring a submission during Mshololo's cross-examination.
“My problem and it has been the problem from the beginning of the trial that all the time the legal representative of accused number five is conducting cross-examination the legal representative of one to four intervenes even when it is not his opportunity to do so.
“There is still plenty of time to do that. She (Mshololo) is still busy with cross-examination and you are rising and this has been happening from the beginning of this trial and it's not right.”
State advocate George Baloyi also objected to Mshololo questioning Madlala on the pending decision regarding the second docket, as he said it currently had no status.
Baloyi said it would be a waste of the court's time to delve into matters that had no bearing on the matter at present.
The court also heard the statements of Mlungisi Edward Hlophe, Meyiwa's brother-in-law, who indicated that he had called Madlala on the night Meyiwa was shot to get the truth about what had really happened. According to Hlophe's statement, Madlala told him there was a fight at the Vosloorus house between Zandi Khumalo and her boyfriend and Meyiwa was allegedly trying to separate the two.
Madlala denied the conversation took place and requested that records to that effect be brought in to prove it.
Another statement read out in court was that of a neighbour who claimed he had heard a commotion at the Khumalo homestead which he first thought was a party. The neighbour said, however, that things got so loud that he decided to peep through a window and saw a person wearing a white T-shirt with their back against the kitchen window.
The matter continues today, with Thobane expected to submit an application regarding the instructions on docket 375 after Madlala’s testimony.
Pretoria News