WATCH | Cat Matlala trial: Judge rejects pics taken four years after Sibanyoni shooting

The defence’s attempt to use photographs taken just hours before court proceedings could resume, to illustrate the scene in the attempted murder of taxi boss Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni, was rejected by the Johannesburg high court on Wednesday.

This was after judge Cassim Moosa found that the same authenticity concerns previously raised against the state now applied to the defence.

The ruling came during the third day of cross-examination of state witness Bethwell Cele, a Bidvest Protea Coin security officer who was on duty at Centurion Golf Estate when Sibanyoni was ambushed on August 10 2022.

Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala, his wife Tsakane Matlala, Musa Kekana, Tiego Floyd Mabusela and Nthabiseng Nzama are facing 25 charges that include the attempted murder of actor Tebogo Thobejane and Sibanyoni.

Before introducing the photographs, Mabusela’s lawyer, advocate Nardus Grové questioned Cele about his recollection of the scene, including when he first noticed the white BMW allegedly carrying the gunmen.

Cele previously testified that he was on duty at Centurion Golf Estate when Sibanyoni arrived in his red Ferrari, only to be ambushed a few moments later by gunmen with AK-47s travelling in a white BMW sedan.

In response to Grové’s question, Cele testified that the BMW’s left window was lowered slightly as it approached the traffic lights on John Vorster Drive before turning towards the estate.

He later told the court he struggled to estimate distances between landmarks because he was “not good in maths”, prompting Moosa to encourage him to make only a rough estimate.

Grové then sought to place the witness’s evidence “in context” by introducing still photographs he had personally taken at about 6am on Wednesday while travelling to court.

“These are simple still photographs of what it looks like,” Grové argued. “The witness can then describe to us where he was, where the BMW travelled, and where the U-turn was made. We’ve done it for many, many years.”

He told the court the images were not comparable to CCTV footage because they merely depicted the layout of the estate.

“If I can’t use the photographs, then I will ask that we go there and we all go and look at it. Then we can see the trees, and we can see where the witness was,” he said.

However, prosecutor Elize Le Roux immediately objected, arguing the photographs had never been disclosed to the state, were taken nearly four years after the shooting and lacked proper authentication.

“We haven’t been shown these pictures. It’s now coming as a surprise to the state,” she said.

She also questioned whether Grové was effectively placing himself in the witness box. “Is my learned friend now a witness in this case?” she asked.

Le Roux reminded the court that the defence had vigorously opposed the state’s attempt a day earlier to use CCTV footage to orientate the court because of authenticity concerns.

Moosa agreed that the same legal principle now applied.

“What I think the cause of complaint on the side of the state was that yesterday she actually wanted to set the scene and provide perspective to the court relating to the scene of the shooting,” Moosa said.

“Today the defence is producing a photograph, and Ms Le Roux, in my view, is quite correct to raise an objection relating to this particular document because we don’t know who the author is, we don’t have the evidence of that individual and we don’t know what it’s meant to depict.”

The judge added that allowing the defence photographs after the objection to the state’s visuals would be inconsistent.

Le Roux informed the court that it already had a photo album compiled shortly after the shooting, which had been disclosed as part of the evidence. Moosa subsequently ruled that the defence should instead use those photographs rather than images taken on the morning of the hearing.

Court was briefly adjourned to allow the parties to consider the state’s photo album before Cele’s cross-examination resumed.

Sowetan