SIPHO MURDER TRIAL FINALLY COMMENCES TODAY

MBABANE – After 482 days since shrewd businessman Victor Gamedze was killed, the moment for the public to know what happened has finally come.
The trial of his alleged killer, Sipho Shongwe is set to begin at the High Court today. 

Gamedze was gunned down in broad daylight at Galp Filling Station in Ezulwini on January 14, 2018. Shongwe is alleged to have colluded with two South African nationals to end Gamedze’s life in cold-blood. However, the two South African nationals, Mbusi ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi and Simphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane will now testify against him.  

The Crown has since turned them into accomplice witnesses.  An accomplice witness is a person who is a participant in the alleged crime either, before, during or after its commission.
Nkosi and Ngubane are presently incarcerated by the department of Correctional Services in the Republic of South Africa.

Sentence

Ngubane is serving a sentence in relation to possession of an unlawful firearm and Nkosi is a parole violator, who is serving out the balance of his sentence because he revoked his parole release on parole conditions. The Crown wants the court to allow the duo to testify through Audio Video Link (AVL) for security reasons. Today, the 33 State witnesses, who consist of high profile people, businessmen, socialites and lawyers, are expected to avail themselves to court after they were subpoenaed by the court to do so. 

Besides the 33 witnesses, the Crown will rely on three video footages and audio, post-mortem report, cellphone records, forensic analysis and a copy of the extradition application. This morning, the charge will be read to Shongwe and he is expected to enter a plea.  

During his pretrial conference and in the litany of applications he previously filed at the High Court, Shongwe indicated that he would plead not guilty.
He further indicated that he would parade only four witnesses.

Shongwe’s legal team is reportedly contemplating to challenge the decision to allow the two South African nationals to testify through the AVL. 
The legal team is of the view that it was not afforded a chance to be heard before the request to utilise the AVL was granted by the office of the Registrar of the High Court in consultation with the chief justice.

In the application to be allowed to utilise the AVL, Principal Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo submitted that: “All other witnesses in the trial will be giving evidence in court in a normal manner. It is absolutely necessary for a just determination of issues raised in the indictment that the evidence of the two South African witnesses, presently incarcerated in South Africa, to be heard by the trial court,” said Nxumalo.

He pointed out that a video link would be established where the set-up would be and a high quality audio visual participation would be possible to hear and see the giving of evidence of the two witnesses.

He averred that the potential impact of the use of technology on the effective maintenance of the rights of the other parties to the prosecution includes:  the ability to assess the credibility of witnesses and the reliability of evidence presented in court; the level of contact with other participants.

“It is submitted that barring the fact that the witnesses will be in South Africa at a different venue, there will be no difference between the witnesses being in court and seen live giving evidence compared to being seen and heard through video link,” argued Nxumalo.
He stated that the advances of technology were such that the court and all participants to the proceedings would fully be able hear and see the witnesses.

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