“IT’S ALL LIES!” ACCUSED NO. 3 ERUPTS OVER PHOTOS, PHONE NUMBERS & TRANSCRIPTS | MEYIWA TRIAL
High-Stakes Recess Order Halts Trial as Accused Erupts Over Alleged Fabricated Evidence and Server Extracts
A high-stakes courtroom confrontation over digital evidence, server extracts, and alleged state fabrication culminated in a complete halt of judicial proceedings ahead of a scheduled October 5 recess.
The court engaged in a preliminary analysis of extensive transcripts capturing the testimony of Sergeant Mabhasa, examining three distinct appearances before the bench spanning August 2023, May 2024, and June 2025.
State representatives and defense counsel debated the precise overlap of evidence between Sergeant Mabhasa and prior witness Mr. Cronje, acknowledging that Sergeant Mabhasa began testifying on August 24 following Mr. Cronje‘s conclusion, with final testimony extending through June 20, 2025.
Amid discussions regarding the transcript volume, Accused Number Three suddenly raised his hand from the dock to launch an explosive directly against the state’s entire evidentiary record.
Accused Number Three informed the court that he had explicitly requested the official audio record from the court box to be brought forward and played aloud in open court, a demand that was never executed.
Addressing the bench, Accused Number Three pointed out the physical presence of media personnel and their recording equipment inside the courtroom.
Accused Number Three argued that if the court’s official recording machinery failed to function properly, the journalists’ equipment remained fully operational, insisting it was impossible for both systems to fail simultaneously.
He declared to the bench that the state’s submissions were total fabrications, stating that every word written in the official transcript and every statement made by Mrs. Malinga constituted pure lies about statements he never uttered.
A state representative immediately interrupted, asking the judge to remind Accused Number Three that he remained under oath so he could be cross-examined directly regarding his accusations against the prosecution team.
Accused Number Three welcomed the cross-examination, declaring he had no issue with being questioned, but reiterated that the case against him was built entirely on state fabrications since 2024.
He testified that prosecutors produced a photograph of him taken in 2012, brought it into court, and falsely claimed through metadata that the image was captured in 2014.
Accused Number Three further charged that the state manufactured claims regarding gold and continuously fabricated cell phone numbers and photographic evidence whenever facts did not favor their narrative.
The court directly questioned Accused Number Three, asking if he was personally requesting the raw audio tapes to be played in court, to which he explicitly confirmed that it was his official demand.
Defense counsel addressed the bench regarding the audio recordings, revealing that the acoustics on the disc provided by the state were of exceedingly poor quality.
Defense counsel confirmed that a formal request was submitted to make an extraction directly from the server to secure high-quality sound, with plans to share the copies with state colleagues upon receipt.
Addressing the broader procedural deadlock, defense counsel urged the court to define the exact scope of the dispute so that both legal teams could investigate the metadata issues with absolute certainty over the upcoming judicial recess.
The state prosecutor argued that the evidence presented to the witness was not new, insisting that the metadata of various photographs—including photo number nine—had been extensively traversed across multiple court appearances by Sergeant Mabhasa between August 2023 and June 2025.
The state prosecutor claimed that defense counsel had previously elicited specific dates and times directly from the working group documents, questioning where else the defense could have obtained exact timestamps such as October 26, 2014, at 11:52.
Defense counsel forcefully rejected the state’s inference, calling the argument disingenuous and clarifying that all timestamps and dates originated entirely from the state’s own initial court evidence.
Defense counsel noted that when subsequent state witnesses like Mrs. Pink testified regarding the movements of Mr. Mncube, the defense relied strictly on the time stamps already introduced by the state without facing any prosecution objections.
As the legal clash escalated, state representatives highlighted that Exhibit 7, comprising the cell phone download records for Accused Number Three, was formally handed up as evidence on July 24, 2025.
Recognizing that the ongoing arguments would only lead to endless exchanges, the court formally adjourned all proceedings until October 5 to allow the bench time to read every page of the disputed records.
Copyright: MDNtv
