Senzo Meyiwa trial: Defence continues to question ballistic evidence
Ballistics expert Lieutenant Colonel Chris Mangena spent his last day on the witness stand on Friday, facing tough questions from the defence.
The witness stand at the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial taken on on 15 May 2023. Picture: Kgomotso Modise/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The defence in the Senzo Meyiwa trial has questioned the integrity of the ballistic evidence that has been heavily relied upon by the State to prove its case.
Ballistics expert Lieutenant Colonel Chris Mangena spent another day on the witness stand on Friday, facing tough questions from the defence.
His evidence links the gun belonging to the third accused to the bullet found at the scene of Meyiwa’s murder.
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It’s been Mangena’s testimony that when he realised he needed to fire more test bullets to determine whether Mthobisi Mncube’s gun was the weapon used to murder Senzo Meyiwa, he collected the gun from the Cleveland police station, where it was destined to be destroyed.
Mangena said he then kept the gun in his exhibit safe.
However, all week, the defence questioned why the gun was found in an opened seal bag, why no paperwork was filled out when it was collected, and why it was kept by Mangena.
On Friday, the last lawyer to cross-examine Mangena, Advocate Zandile Mshololo, said the integrity of the gun — how it was recovered, handled, and received by the ballistic unit — was questionable.
Mangena has completed his time on the witness stand.