Meyiwa murder trial: Arresting officers version to be scrutinised by defence
The State wants the court to admit a confession statement signed by Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya in May 2020 and two confessions signed by Bongani Ntanzi in June of the same year. Both men are accused of the murder of football star Senzo Meyiwa.
Lt. Col Nkosikhona Hadebe was back on the witness stand in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, on 25 October 2023.
JOHANNESBURG - The version of a police officer who arrested one of Senzo Meyiwa’s alleged killers will be scrutinised in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday morning, as the trial within a trial continues.
The court is hearing the State’s case on the admissibility of alleged confession statements by two of the accused.
The State wants the court to admit a confession statement signed by Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya in May 2020 and two confessions signed by Bongani Ntanzi in June of the same year.
But the defence has argued that both men were beaten into signing the statements.
READ: Meyiwa trial: magistrate who took Ntanzi's confession queried big police escort
Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officer Jabulani Buthelezi has told the court that he was part of the team that arrested Sibiya on 30 May 2020 in Tembisa.
He also drove him to several spots including the Vosloorus hostel and police offices in Aeroton, south of Johannesburg, before taking him to a Pretoria police station for detention.
Buthelezi and all the JMPD officers who testified before him have sung in unison on the claims by the accused that they were assaulted to confess.
"I did not see any assault," he said.
Buthelezi told the court that he explained Sibiya’s rights to him both at his arrest and when he was booked into a prison cell in Soweto.
"I told him that if he was unhappy, he could report it and even when we have left, he could report it."
The lawyer for the first two accused will begin cross-examination on Wednesday morning.