Cartridges and bullet fragments collected at the spot where Fort Hare University bodyguard Mboneli Vesele was shot dead in Dikeni [formerly Alice] in January 2023, those picked up in a maroon Jeep abandoned not far from the scene and those found in the BMW Vesele was driving all came from a single firearm.
Police collected five cartridges in the stolen Jeep, while fragments of bullets were picked up in the BMW when it was examined weeks after the attack on Vesele, the bodyguard of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Sakhela Buhlungu, on January 6 2023.
W/O Sandile Ndumiso provided this evidence in the Bhisho high court on Tuesday..
Zimele Chiliza, Mthobisi Khanyile, Nkosiyazi Maphumulo, Bafana Chiliza, Thamsanqa Mgwetyana, Lindokuhle Manjati, Phelisa Nkonyeni and Isaac Plaatjies have pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, conspiracy to murder, two counts of illegal possession of firearms — a semi-automatic rifle and a .38 revolver — and possession of ammunition.
Chiliza, Manjati, Nkonyeni and Plaatjies, a former UFH director of investigations and vetting, also pleaded not guilty to defeating the ends of justice.
Ndumiso, stationed at the Eastern Cape crime scene management team, said that on January 7 2023 a Col Maye called him and told him of Vesele’s killing.
Maye told him police from the KwaMaqoma police station had taken photos at the crime scene.
Ndumiso said he went to the scene and after receiving an explanation of what happened, he viewed the CCTV footage but noticed it was not playing as it should. He decided to take the CCTV’s hard drive “to the people that know how the machine works”.
“I took the machine because of my knowledge that there were people who would be able to fix the frame of the footage so that it plays properly. I sealed the hard drive in an evidence bag before Maye and UFH personnel. I took the hard drive and booked it in at the Dikeni police station.
“While still preparing to have the evidence taken to be checked, I was informed a team was coming to investigate the case. The hard drive was taken by Col Tyesi. It was still sealed.
“We went back to the crime scene and he inserted the hard drive into the machine and explained he would download the footage as is. He downloaded it in my presence.”
The locked Jeep, found abandoned on the day of Vesele’s killing, was taken to the Dikeni police station.
Ndumiso said on January 11 the Jeep was opened and police found five cartridges inside. He looked for DNA evidence on the Jeep’s door handles — inside and outside. After that he checked for fingerprints on the handles. He found fingerprints on the outside handle of the driver’s door and on the sunroof inside the car.
“After finishing gathering the evidence I put it in evidence bags.”
He said of 16 A4 papers in the boot, he put two in an evidence bag to be taken to handwriting experts. There were also fingerprints on the A4 photos, but these were processed and could not be matched to any individual.
Ndumiso testified that on January 26 2023 he was asked by the investigating officers to return to the Jeep, which was now at the police storage depot in Makhanda, saying they suspected it had been stolen.
He was instructed to check for fingerprints again. He looked for DNA and fingerprints on the front and rear number plates.
“On the front number plate I was able to detect one fingerprint on the middle of the blank side and I found another on the rear plate, also on the blank side. After I discovered these fingerprints, I took pictures of them. I went and booked the number plates in at the Dikeni police station. I used my intuition and checked the corner of the bonnet,” he said.
Asked if the fingerprints matched anyone, Ndumiso said they matched “a Dlamini”.
Earlier, Mthobisi Dlamini pleaded guilty to stealing the car, valued at R160,000, in Durban in December 2022 and selling it for R3,500.
In August Dlamini was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Bhisho high court. He was initially among the accused in the dock facing murder charges.
Ndumiso will continue his evidence-in-chief on Wednesday.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.