Meyiwa trial: Cellphone data shows Ntanzi downloaded gun pictures, uploaded WhatsApp statuses while in custody

JOHANNESBURG - Cellphone data presented in the Pretoria High Court has shown that the second accused in the Senzo Meyiwa trial used a phone to download pictures of guns and upload WhatsApp statuses while in police custody.

On Monday, Bongani Ntanzi denied having access to a phone since his arrest in June 2020.

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But testimony from a forensic police officer has shown activity on a cellphone that police claim to have found on Ntanzi during his detention at the Villieria Police Station in February 2021.

Ntanzi claims his phone, and another that belonged to his sister were taken by police at the time of his arrest on 16 June 2020.

But police claim to have found him with a phone in his cell at the Villieria Police Station in February 2021, eight months after his arrest.

On Wednesday, testimony from Lieutenant-Colonel Gideon Gouws, who analysed the phone, revealed that Ntanzi used the phone to edit and save pictures of himself and his girlfriend and to download a picture of guns, which he later tried to delete.

Gouws also found that Ntanzi was in contact with at least two of his co-accused using the phone under analysis.

He also found that Ntanzi was contacted by the fifth accused, Fisokuhle Ntuli, who made contact with all the accused.