Stone too big to take to SA – cop
MBABANE – A police detective yesterday said the stone used by Nelisa Hlatshwako to allegedly kill prosecutor Stanley Dlamini in 2018 at Msunduza, was too big to take to South Africa for forensic testing.
Detective Dumisani Dlamini, who is under the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) based in Mbabane, testified during the murder trial of Hlatshwako yesterday, before Judge Maxine Langwenya. The detective was involved in the investigation, which was led by the late Detective Senior Superintendent Solomon Mavuso, who was the Desk Officer at Mbabane Police Station.
Dumisani said after Hlatshwako had been arrested and charged, they applied at the Mbabane Magistrates Court that blood samples be extracted from him. He said the clothes he was wearing on April 28, 2018, when Stanley was killed, and his blood samples, were taken to Pretoria, South Africa for forensic testing. The stone, which was the murder weapon, according to Dumisani, could not be taken to South Africa with the other items because it was too big. He submitted that instead, swabs from the stone were taken for forensic testing in the neighbouring country.
He also told the court that the stone was brought to the police station by General Duty police officers, who were first to arrive at the scene in the morning of the day when Stanley was murdered. The stone was found at the scene of the murder. “I went to the magistrates court to apply for an order to formally detain the stone and we kept it at the police station,” said Dumisani. Hlatshwako, who is represented by Noncedo Ndlangamandla of Mabila Attorneys, told Sizakele Maziya that the stone she gave to the police was not the one used in assaulting Stanley and that the stone was not next to the body.
Maziya, who is a vendor, gave evidence yesterday and she stated that what Hlatshwako had said was not true. According to Maziya, only the police touched the stone. She said she only pointed it out to the police.
Ndlangamandla said Maziya described the stone as triangular and that it had a flat base. This description, said Ndlangamandla, had been given to Maziya outside the courtroom by Constable Thabiso Mavuso, while she was being interviewed before she testified. She said that was how Thabiso had described the stone. Ndlangamandla said the description given by Maziya was not the one recorded in her statement.
Brick
Principal Crown Counsel Macebo Nxumalo said that was incorrect as Maziya had described the stone in her statement as sharp edged. In her statement, Maziya, according to Nxumalo, recorded that Hlatshwako took a brick and went to the prosecutor and hit him hard and he fell, and the brick got smashed. Hlatshwako then picked a sharp-edged stone and hit the prosecutor with it. Judge Langwenya said statements recorded by the police were notoriously inaccurate. She sustained the objection by Nxumalo and said it was a modification to the description made in the statement.
Hlatshwako, said Ndlangamandla, never assaulted Stanley three times with the stone on the face or chest. She said Maziya was not telling the truth. Maziya submitted that she saw Hlatshwako hitting Stanley with the stone. “The brick you say was smashed on Stanley’s face never hit him but fell to the ground and broke after it missed him,” said Ndlangamandla.
Maziya told the court that she saw Hlatshwako picking it from the ground and hitting the prosecutor on the face with it. Ndlangamandla continued to say when the brick missed Stanley, he became aggressive and then Hlatshwako picked a stone and threw it at him. “He didn’t miss him with the brick. It was a half brick. He didn’t throw it at him. He hit him on the face with it still in his hands. Then Stanley fell and tried to get up. He tried to hit Hlatshwako with a fist and he lost balance and fell. Hlatshwako kicked him as he rolled and took a stone and hit him with it. I never saw Stanley carrying a stone,” explained Maziya.
Hlatshwako, according to Ndlangamandla, neither kicked nor stomped on Stanley, as submitted by Maziya. However, Maziya told the court that she recalled one Fikile Shabangu, who was surprised that Hlatshwako stomped on Stanley despite having hit him with the stone.
Ndlangamandla stated that Phum’la Khumalo and Thobile Matsebula would testify and tell the court that they never witnessed Hlatshwako stomping on the prosecutor as he lay on the ground. Hlatshwako denied going to the scene with a stone. He said he picked it from the ground after he and Stanley had rolled down a hill. “I didn’t see them rolling. The stone was picked by Hlatshwako. It was Stanley who rolled and the stone was next to the road. Hlatshwako picked it up and approached Stanley and hit him. Stanley was lying on the ground,” said Maziya.
Kicked
Ndlangamandla mentioned that if Hlatshwako had stomped on Stanley’s head, his shoes would have been stained with blood. Maziya explained that Hlasthwako did not per se stomp on Stanley’s head but he allegedly kicked him on the head. In re-examination by Nxumalo, the principal Crown counsel asked Maziya that when ‘Gawzen’ spoke to Hlatshwako about Stanley having called him a rapist, how far was Stanley from the two?
Maziya said he was not too far from them. Nxumalo also asked Maziya that when Stanley spat on Hlatshwako’s face, who took a step towards the other? She told the court that it was Stanley. “He turned and faced them and he (Stanley) and accused exchanged words. Stanley spat on his face and said the accused should not meddle in matters that did not involve him,” narrated Maziya.
Maziya said she was done selling roast chicken (chicken dust) and had crossed the street when the incident happened. Hlasthwako had argued that Maziya was at her stall and far from where the fight was taking place. The matter is pending in court.