Advocate defending suspects in Senzo Meyiwa case arrested in court

The lawyer representing four of the five men accused of murdering Bafana Bafana player Senzo Meyiwa was arrested in the high court in Pretoria on Thursday.

It is understood that advocate Malesela Teffo was arrested for failure to appear in court in another matter where he is an accused, facing charges of assault and trespassing. 

TimesLIVE understands he was being taken to the Hillbrow police station and was expected to appear in the Hillbrow magistrate's court on Friday for a bail hearing.

Teffo's  arrest was carried out immediately after proceedings in the Meyiwa trial were adjourned for the day. 

He was still wearing his court robe when the police approached him and spoke to him. Teffo derobed before they cuffed him, 

Teffo's arrest will not immediately affect Meyiwa's trial because the case had been stood down until May 30. 

All the lawyers involved in the trial had agreed to a postponement because of other commitments.

For Teffo, the arrest had come as no surprise.

Earlier, his instructing attorney, Tshepo Thobane, had informed the court that they had received a tip-off during lunch break that he would be arrested. 

They described the move as a “scare tactic”.

Thobane had told the court that they have been receiving strange phone calls since Magdalene Moonsamy, the lawyer who had a watching brief for Kelly Khumalo, was asked to excuse herself from the court as the trial got under way. 

This was because there was a possibility that Khumalo could be called to testify in the trial.

As he was led to the holding cells, Teffo was asked by journalists whether he knew what he was being arrested for. He replied that he did not know but added that police minister Bheki Cele wanted him off the case and accused the police officers who yanked him away from the media of intimidation. 

Teffo questioned the timing of his arrest, saying the warrant was dated January this year but he was being arrested only now. 

In the Meyiwa trial, he is representing four of five men who have charged with the footballer's murder.

Meyiwa was gunned down in Vosloorus in October 2014 at the home of his girlfriend, Khumalo. 

Khumalo's mother, sister, her sister's boyfriend, two of Meyiwa's friends and Khumalo's two children were present during the shooting. They claimed Meyiwa was killed in a botched robbery. 

The five accused have pleaded not guilty. 

LISTEN | 'I don’t suspect any tampering,' says forensics expert in Meyiwa trial  

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