Judge to rule on alleged confessions in Senzo Meyiwa murder trial

Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng , presiding over the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, will on Thursday rule whether the alleged confession statements made by his alleged killers are admissible.

The court previously heard Muzikawukhulelwa Sibiya and co-accused Bongani Sandiso Ntanzi had confessed to knowing the circumstances of football star Meyiwa's murder in Vosloorus in 2014. However, they alleged they were forced to do so after being beaten by police.

In the trial-within-a-trial that started in October last year, the court heard evidence on the admissibility of the confession statements they allegedly made.

The defence has submitted the alleged confessions by Sibiya and Ntanzi were not obtained voluntarily and freely.

They alleged the accused were tortured and assaulted.

“This court after having considered all that evidence, all the submissions will on Thursday make a ruling. It won't be a full judgment; it will be a ruling and such ruling by its nature as determined by convention and the law is relative and not final because at this juncture this court is not seized with the rest of the evidence.

“And this court can't determine at this stage how that evidence, which is going to be led by the state, and if it is also led by the defence in rebuttal, is going to impact, affect, diminish, increase the evidence that will be led in the merits of the case. Only after this court has heard that other evidence can this court be in a position to join the evidence which was heard in a trial-within-a-trial and that which was heard within the merits and draw a joint judgment which incorporates both of these exigencies,” said Mokgoatlheng.

Sibiya alleges that torture using plastic bags was used to force him to sign the pre-written confession, which was false as he knew nothing about the footballer's murder.

In the alleged confession, Sibiya and Ntanzi implicated Meyiwa's then girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, as the person who gave them the instruction to kill Meyiwa.

Meyiwa, who had fathered a child with Khumalo, was shot dead at Khumalo's mother's house in Vosloorus. Khumalo and other people present during the shooting claimed Meyiwa was killed in a robbery gone wrong. 

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