MUZIKAWUKHULELWA Sibiya, the first accused in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, has been found guilty on charges of possession of drugs and count of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Sibiya appeared in the Tembisa Magistrates Court on Tuesday, 12 December, for the judgment.
This is the case where he was initially arrested in May 2020 when he allegedly confessed to Meyiwa's murder.
He has been acquitted of dealing in drugs.
Magistrate Jerome Josephs said the state conceded that they had not proven reasonable doubt that Sibiya had been dealing in drugs but had proven beyond reasonable doubt that he was in possession of drugs.
In 2019, he was found with 10 bags of heroin, and in May 2020, when police searched Sibiya's shack, they found cartridges in a plastic bag. Sibiya denied that police found any drugs on him or that he sold any.
On count two involving ammunition, he claimed he was arrested by about 15 to 16 police officers and that the cops didn't find anything in the shack.
He also claimed he was merely arrested and interrogated regarding the murder of Meyiwa, which he knows nothing about.
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Delivering his ruling, the magistrate said Sibiya’s version is outrageous.
“Those police officers had nothing to do with the investigation into the murder. They had no information regarding the murder of Senzo Meyiwa,” he said.
He said the only common cause, in this case, is that the accused was arrested on 19 March 2019 for dealing or possession of an undesirable dependence-producing substance called heroin and was also arrested a year later on 30 May 2020 on J50 warrant of arrest with a second charge added of possession of ammunition that was the only common cause between the parties.
Josephs said the version of the prosecution witnesses was and is irreconcilable with the version of the accused.
He said there’s a factual dispute between the version of the accused and that of the state witness if the accused was dealing or had in his possession any drugs or that he was in possession of ammunition.
“The version is mutually destructive to each other and the allegation by the state witness were outright denied by the accused,” said Josephs.
Sibiya’s sentencing will be on 18 January 2024, and whatever sentence he is handed will be added to the 12-year sentence that he is serving for attempted murder.
