THE South Gauteng High Court on Monday, 31 October heard that Prince Lethukuthula Zulu had cocaine in his stomach.
This was revealed by Dr Oumakie Hlalele from the Roodepoort Forensic Pathology, who did a postmortem on his body.
Dr Hlalele also told the court that cocaine is usually taken through injection, smoking and snorting. But for it to be found in the stomach, it had to have been taken through the mouth. This was revealed during the trial of four women – Tshegofatso Moremane, Gontse Thloele, Margaret Koaile and Portia Mmola – who stand accused of killing the Zulu prince.
On the toxicology results, she said: “In the blood, cocaine was detected in the following concentration, 0,1 micrograms per millilitre of blood.
“On the gastric (stomach) contents, cocaine was detected in the following concentration, 2 micrograms per millilitre of gastric contents. The third one was urine, cocaine was detected in the following concentration 2 micrograms per millilitre of urine.”
State prosecutor, Advocate Sifiso Khumalo, who was leading the witness, asked: “What could have resulted in the cocaine being found in the stomach?”
Hlalele said: “This one shows that the deceased took it by mouth.”
Khumalo then asked again: “Is that a normal thing to take cocaine through the mouth?”
Dr Hlalele said according to the book she was making reference to, this form of the drug is usually taken in three ways.
“Either by injection, snorting or smoking. In the stomach, it doesn’t give the excitement (high) and you’d need to take it in large amounts.”
When she was asked if she noticed some powdery substance on the deceased’s nose, Dr Hlalele said she didn’t notice any.
A photo of the deceased, depicting a white thing on the nostril was brought up and the witness was asked what the white thing could be.
She said: “According to the way I see it – because there is a fly there – the way it is so big and congested, it could be larvae.”
Larvae are the tiny white eggs that flies would normally leave on anything they eat and after hours they would turn into maggots and subsequently would hatch and become flies.
She added: “As you can see on the right nostril, they were busy there and that’s where they like because it is soft and there is mucus around.”
Advocate Pheane Lebea, representing Koaile and Mmola during cross-examination, asked the witness if she was sure the white thing on the nose was larvae.
She said she wasn’t sure, because she didn’t see it with her own eyes, but because of the fly, that is how she came to suggest that it could be larvae.
The matter continues today, 1 November.
