There was no blood at the scene where Senzo Meyiwa was killed: police sergeant tells Court

The lack of Senzo Meyiwa’s blood on the kitchen floor, where the footballer was allegedly shot, surprised forensic officer Sergeant Thabo Mosia, who conceded the possibility that the crime scene was contaminated.

Mosia, who has been on the witness stand for about two weeks in the Pretoria high court, mostly under cross-examination, admitted that witness statements read out in court — which alleged that a neighbour, Maggie Phiri, was seen cleaning the crime scene — confirmed “the possibility that the crime scene was contaminated”.

On Tuesday, advocate Zandile Mshololo, for the fifth accused Fisokuhle Ntuli — after reading out the witness statement alleging contamination — asked Mosia, the state’s first witness, whether he found blood on the kitchen floor, which the state claims is where Meyiwa was shot in a supposed botched robbery.

Five men have been appearing in the dock for robbery and the 2014 murder of the football star.

Eight years later, only one State witness has been heard in the trial, which kicked off in April.

Sergeant Thabo Mosia – who is on his third week of testimony since the start of the case – told the court that when he arrived on the scene of the crime to carry out his forensic work, Meyiwa had already been taken to hospital.

He said while he did not see his body, he was told that the footballer was shot in the kitchen where a scuffle had broken out with the accused. However, there was no blood on the kitchen floor.

But on Tuesday, advocate Zandile Mshololo showed Mosia pictures of blood on the floor of the living room.

“So, how come there was no blood in the kitchen where it is alleged that the deceased was shot and there is only blood stains in the lounge where he was not shot at?”

Mshololo asked Mosia whether he tried to follow a trail of blood between the house and Meyiwa’s car that he was put into when he was being taken to the hospital. The sergeant said he did not.

Mosia, responding to Mshololo, said he did not find blood stains on the kitchen floor, but there was splatter in the living room, near the TV stand.

“It is also surprising to me, so I cannot answer,” he said, adding that he was shocked to find no blood where Meyiwa was allegedly shot and conceding to the “possibility” of contamination.

Mosia further admitted that there were no blood-stain trails from the living room to Meyiwa’s BMW X6, in which the footballer was transported by Khumalo to Botshelong Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

But Mosia added that, at the time he arrived at the scene, he did not believe that it was contaminated.

“When I arrived at the crime scene, I did not see it as a crime scene that was contaminated. I saw it as an ordinary crime scene,” Mosia testified.

The defence also accused Mosia of lying about the processing of exhibits from the murder scene and tampering with evidence.

Last week, Mosia told the court that the exhibits he collected on the scene of Meyiwa’s murder on the day after the crime, could not be handed in to the appropriate clerk for processing because it was a weekend. He said that was why he kept the exhibits in his personal safe.

But on Tuesday, advocate Mshololo pointed out that on 27 October 2014, the day after Meyiwa’s death, was in fact a Monday.

Mosia apologised to the court, saying he got his days mixed up. He said the crime scene took day and night to process and so he left exhibits in his personal safe.

Court adjourned earlier on Tuesday due to the malfunctioning of the court’s recording system.