Senzo murder mystery to be solved with hat found at scene

"As it is now, from the reconstruction of the scene, there is no course for us to continue to look at the people who were in the house," head of Hawks in Gauteng Major-General Prince Mokotedi said yesterday.

Mokotedi is heading the investigation into Meyiwa's murder.

Meyiwa was shot dead on October 26 2014 at his girlfriend Kelly Khumalo's family home.

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Khumalo, her sister Zandi, their mother Ntombi, musician Sello "Chicco" Twala's son Longwe Twala and two of Senzo's friends were in the house when he was shot dead.

"We brought them in one by one and questioned them, and their stories were consistent. The reconstruction helped us eliminate a lot of theories. We more or less know what happened in the house."

The Hawks were brought in to assist the SAPS a few weeks ago. Mokotedi said it took them almost seven hours to reconstruct the crime scene, as they had to bring in furniture since the house is now empty.

"It is a difficult case. Since we reconstructed the scene, we have done away with a lot of theories and I am saying that cautiously. We are looking at people who are largely unconnected from those who were in the house. We are really dealing with unknown assailants. It might be that they wanted to hijack the vehicle that Senzo was driving or they wanted to take cellphones and money then run away," he said.

Mokotedi said they were looking for three people. He said two men were inside the house, and another was in the car. He said a hat belonging to one of the assailants was found on the scene.

"The interesting thing about the hat is that we have taken it for the lab analysis and it has DNA on it. [It] will help because if we have the person who was wearing that hat, then we can get DNA, and if it matches then we can place them on the scene of the crime.

"It is a very unique hat. We are appealing to people out there to help us and call our hotline anonymously and tell us [if] they know someone who had the same hat," he said.

Hawks boss joins the chase

THE head of the Hawks in Gauteng, Major-General Prince Mokotedi, says Senzo Meyiwa's murder case has a dedicated team working on it.

"We are not sleeping as many people think. I am overseeing the team," Mokotedi said.

"We have brought in a crime intelligence unit, digital forensic laboratories, tracing unit and we are interviewing people in prisons.

"Senzo was killed at around 8pm. We are looking at all cellphones used between 7pm and 9pm to try and put them on the scene."

Mokotedi said Khumalo's phone was stolen and they know where it was last used and were keeping an eye on the place.

"We hit brick walls here and there but the team is not deterred. We would like to contain people's expectations.

"I study the docket almost every day. I write notes, re-read statements. It is a huge docket with more than 60 statements. Ordinarily at my level I wouldn't [be involved], I would just give direction."

He said a murder docket would normally have four to five statements but Meyiwa's docket was made up of two large files.

Mokotedi said they were hopeful that they would solve the case.

"If you have more than one person involved in a crime your chances of cracking it are better. We cannot say exactly when we will solve the case. This hat is the one hope we have. Help us identify who wore it," he said.

This article first appeared on The Sowetan.