Meyiwa murder trial: Defence widens evidence scope regarding escort of accused
The court ruled that the State should be allowed to lead vehicle tracking evidence from the car that escorted one of the accused, Bongani Ntanzi, after he claimed he was assaulted by police at multiple stops before being forced to sign a confession at the Moroka Police Station.
JOHANNESBURG - The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa trial has widened the scope of evidence that will be explored regarding the escort of one of the football star's alleged killers.
On Monday, the Pretoria High Court ruled that the State should be allowed to lead vehicle tracking evidence from the police car that escorted Bongani Ntanzi.
The evidence relates to allegations made by Ntanzi that he was assaulted by police at multiple stops, before he was forced to sign a confession at the Moroka Police Station.
Ntanzi is one of five men in the dock for Meyiwa's 2014 murder.
The evidence from the automatic vehicle location system was in stark contrast to Ntanzi's version of what happened on 19 June 2020.
According to Ntanzi, he was assaulted at multiple stops before he was taken to the Moroka Police Station for the confession, but the data showed that the escort did not even pass anywhere near some of those places along the way to Moroka.
On Monday, Ntanzi's lawyer advocate Thulani Mngomezulu asked to be furnished with vehicle tracking data from days before the Moroka trip.
“We will focus mainly from the 16th [of June] onwards, because our version starts from the 16th.”
The data will include the trips made by sergeant Vusumuzi Mogane with Ntanzi for over 17 hours on 18 June - the day before he would sign a confession statement.
While Mogane insisted he was attending to other cases until 2:30am, the defence is adamant that Ntanzi was being assaulted by police.
