“THAT PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN 2012!” ACCUSED: ‘THEY WERE ALL LIES’

An explosive legal showdown reached a chaotic breaking point as defense attorneys accused state prosecutors of ambushing their team with untraceable digital evidence and manufactured timelines.

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The fierce courtroom battle erupted over photo number 46, a critical image taken on the morning of October 26, 2014, prior to a scheduled trip to Sprite Mazes.

Under cross-examination, the witness confirmed that the photograph was captured on a personal Samsung GTE20 mobile phone by his niece and nephew.

State prosecutors attempted to confront the witness with newly introduced metadata establishing the exact creation date and timestamp of the image.

Defense attorney Mr. Mnisi immediately interjected, launching a furious objection before the court and declaring that the state never provided any metadata connected to photo number 46.

Mr. Mnisi asserted that exhibit S, the official court document presented by the state, contains only the raw image without any metadata attached.

State advocate Baloyi vehemently contested the defense’s claims, informing the court that the electronic evidence was officially handed over to the defense on September 13, 2023, during a meeting at the Director of Public Prosecutions offices.

Advocate Baloyi stated that the metadata files were loaded onto a memory stick and delivered directly to the defense team, which included advocate Mshololo and officer Makhubo.

In response, Mr. Mnisi argued that private exchanges inside the DPP offices do not constitute valid evidence before the court, citing established case law regarding state and defense agreements.

Mr. Mnisi accused the prosecution of executing a deliberate trial by ambush, insisting that presenting two distinct versions of photo number 46 creates a severe miscarriage of justice for his client, Mr. Ntanzi.

Tensions mounted further as the witness, Mr. Ntanzi, directly addressed the court to expose previous instances where state metadata proved entirely false.

Mr. Ntanzi revealed that in June of the previous year, prosecutors presented a photograph of him and claimed the metadata proved it was taken on September 2, 2014.

According to Mr. Ntanzi, that image was actually taken in 2012, proving that the state’s digital tracking data lied to the court and generated false allegations against him.

Mr. Ntanzi demanded that court recordings from September 2020 be replayed in open court to disprove a series of lies entered into the official record regarding his personal history.

Advocate Baloyi maintained that the electronic images and accompanying metadata reside inside exhibit 7 and exhibit 10, which span 854 pages and contain up to 30 photos the state intends to use.

The presiding judge intervened directly, demanding to know whether the state could physically produce the files that Mr. Mnisi claimed were missing.

Advocate Baloyi explained that the complete documentation was stored on a laptop and offered to transfer the files via a USB memory stick immediately.

Mr. Mnisi openly condemned the prosecution’s tactics, declaring that the state was acting in a highly unprofessional manner by forcing the defense to navigate unverified digital files mid-trial.

The judge abruptly halted the day’s proceedings, ordering both legal teams to resolve their evidence disputes off the record before attempting to resume cross-examination.

“THAT PICTURE WAS TAKEN IN 2012!” ACCUSED: ‘THEY WERE ALL LIES’ | MEYIWA TRIAL

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