Meyiwa trial: Defence set to cross-examine investigating officer on vehicle tracking device data

JOHANNESBURG - The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa trial is set to cross-examine the investigating officer on the vehicle tracking data from the days when confession statements were taken from two of the accused.

The court is still hearing a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of the confession statements.

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Two of the five men accused of the footballer's murder signed confessions shortly after their arrest but have now distanced themselves from the statements, saying they were assaulted by police.

The AVL tracking data from the vehicles that were used to transport Bongani Ntanzi and Muzikawkhulelwa Sibiya featured prominently throughout the trial within a trial.

The defence sought to use the data, in relation to Ntanzi, in a bid to show where the police may have stopped and assaulted him while trying to force him to confess.

But the data has not matched the version of the defence.

On Wednesday morning, lawyer for the fifth accused, Advocate Zandile Mshololo, will use the data in her cross-examination of Brigadier Bongani Gininda.

According to Ntanzi, Gininda was present when he was assaulted near an ATM dumping site in Orlando, Soweto, in June 2020 while he was allegedly being forced to sign an already written confession statement.

But the data presented in court has failed to show that police made any stop in Orlando while escorting Ntanzi.