Senzo Meyiwa faced shooter holding gun to his chest, scuffle is feasible

Police ballistics expert Lt-Col Chris Mangena says the shooter was probably in front of Senzo Meyiwa and the firearm in contact with his chest when the football star was fatally wounded in Vosloorus in 2014.

“The possibility of an altercation or struggle between the deceased and the shooter cannot be ruled out,” Mangena told the Pretoria high court. He is testifying in the trial of five men charged with the October 2014 murder of the Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper. 

When he was fatally wounded, Meyiwa was standing upright in the kitchen behind a half-closed door with his back to the door but not in contact with it.

Mangena said the bullet perforated his body and hit the door behind him.

After his examination of the crime scene and Meyiwa's clothing and body, Mangena said he could determine at least two shots were fired.

The shot towards the door was the one that hit Meyiwa.

“One shot was fired directly to the floor at an angle of about 90°. Lead traces originating from the bullet were visible around the impact. The other shot was fired in the direction of the door at a slightly downward angle. The bullet damage on the door had characteristics of an unstable bullet. The unstableness could have been as a result of an intermediate target between the firearm — it could have been the deceased,” he said.

Mangena has worked on about 5,620 cases and attended courses, including with the FBI. His evidence in the reconstruction of the Oscar Pistorius case was crucial when the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the Blade Runner's culpable homicide conviction to one of murder. 

Mangena also worked on the Babita Deokaran murder.

Sgt Thabo Mosia, a police officer who collected evidence at the scene, and Col Thobeka Mhlahlo, a fingerprint expert and photographer, previously testified about the discovery of a bullet fragment and a bullet on the kitchen countertop.

On Tuesday, pathologist Johannes Steenekamp said Meyiwa sustained a close contact wound which was so fatal he would have died within seconds or minutes, not hours.

The trial continues.

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