Ballistics expert Colonel Chris Mangena, who is being cross-examined in the Senzo Meyiwa trial , has testified that the firearm barrel seized from accused number 3, despite its age and worn condition, was positively matched as the weapon used in the crime.
Defence counsel Charles Mnisi is representing accused number 3, Mthobisi Mncube, at the High Court in Pretoria.
Five accused are standing trial for the 2014 murder of the former Bafana Bafana captain. Mangena is currently being cross-examined by Mnisi.
Mangena: I could see the similarities. As I said, the barrel of this firearm is worn out that it does not create all the impressions, all the markings in the slippage. And then theres markings somewhere, you pick up the marks, somewhere you wont pick up those markings. If you fire at the other shot with the second shot, you might find marks which are not on the first bullet, so I could see some similarities. But I could not make it exactly positive, but I could see that they are from the same firearm.
Mnisi: You say, you could see that these bullets were fired from the same firearm, although there was no transfer of the marks, which would have conclusively allowed you to say, indeed, these bullets were fired from this firearm because the barrel of the firearm was so worn out that not all the marks were transferred into the bullets. Do I understand you correctly?
