Court hears Kelly Khumalo’s phone memory was ‘wiped’ hours after Meyiwa’s murder

The state's fourth witness, Col Lambertus Steyn, testified on Thursday that during cellphone download tracking the activity on Kelly Khumalo's phone he found a "device boot-up" of the device had occurred on October 27 2014, a day after Senzo Meyiwa was murdered.

The device boot-up was at about at about 1.31am, several hours after the murder.

Testifying before the high court in Pretoria, Steyn said this could mean the owner of the phone deleted some or all of the information on the device. 

“Because it is a smartphone, you can do it via the internet where you can access your phone and delete some of the information. It's not necessary for you to have your phone in your hand [when deleting],” he said.

This was the same phone number which Steyn testified was contacted by Sifisokuhle Nkani Ntuli, one of five men charged with the killing of Meyiwa. Ntuli had apparently reached out to Khumalo's number first on August 2 2014 and again on October 15 2014, days before Meyiwa's murder.

Expressing confidence that the number belonged to Khumalo, Steyn said the number was Ricad in her name and registered on the app True Caller as "Kelly Khumalo bookings".

Steyn told the court that data mined from the phone revealed no calls were made to police from the device on the night Meyiwa died. He said he has no clear indication of when the phone was seized by police.

Ntuli and four others are on trial for the October 2014 murder of Meyiwa.

He was shot dead in Khumalo's presence at her mother's home in Vosloorus. Also present at the time of the murder were Kelly's sister Zandile, her boyfriend, Longwe Twala, the women's mother Ntombi Khumalo and two of Meyiwa's friends who were visiting from KwaZulu-Natal.

The house occupants claimed Meyiwa was killed by one of two intruders who barged into the home, demanding cellphones and money.

Steyn is attached to the national cold case investigation unit based in the police national head office in Pretoria. He is an analyst and investigation officer and has about 40 years' experience.

When testifying he said he had received downloads from all the people who were present in the Vosloorus home where Meyiwa was gunned down, except from one of Khumalo's phones which allegedly was stolen by the intruders who had barged into the house. Meyiwa's phone data were not part of the bundle. 

Zandile Khumalo testified that Meyiwa's phone was found lying on the kitchen floor when they returned from hospital after he had been declared dead.

Steyn said when analysing the data from Kelly Khumalo's phone he found no calls were made from it on October 26 2014 from 2pm to 23.41pm. On the day after the crime, no calls were made.

“It is possible the phone might have been in the possession of the police and that's why she couldn't make a call,” he said.

He told the court he had no clear indication when police seized the phones of  those who were in the house when Meyiwa was murdered.

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