They shot him in front of us: SMS places Longwe Twala at Meyiwa murder scene

The Pretoria High Court has heard startling evidence placing Longwe Thwala at the scene of the crime the night Senzo Meyiwa was gunned down.

Cellphone data expert, Colonel Lambertus Steyn, says they discovered an SMS sent by Twala just after 10 pm on the night in question, which read “Senzo is dead. They just shot him in front of us.”

This is in stark contrast to state witness Zandile Khumalo’s testimony, who told the court that Twala was not in the house the moment three shots rang out, fatally wounding Meyiwa.

The singer, who’d been dating Twala at the time, previously told the court she was surprised he’d run away – leaving her vulnerable.

Five men are currently standing trial for the Bafana Bafana captain’s murder.

He was gunned down at his girlfriend singer Kelly Khumalo’s Vosloorus home in October 2014.

Those present in the house that night include Kelly Khumalo, her sister Zandile, their mother Ntombi, Longwe Twala and Meyiwa’s friends Mthokozisi Thwala and Tumelo Madlala.

They have all maintained that Meyiwa’s killing was a robbery gone wrong. However, the defence team argues that the footballer may have been gunned down trying to separate a fight between Longwe Twala and Zandile Khumalo.

Kelly Khumalo linked to accused no 5

 In yet another twist in the trial on Thursday, cellphone data revealed that Kelly Khumalo received calls from a cellphone number linked to accused no 5 Fisokuhle Ntuli, in the months leading up to the murder.

According to the expert evidence, the calls were made between August and October of 2014 each with a duration of over one minute.

Ntuli is alleged to have driven the getaway car on the night in question.

It’s also been revealed that information was deleted from Kelly Khumalo’s phone in the hours following her lover’s tragic murder.

The explosive revelation will likely aid the defence in pushing for Khumalo to come forward and testify as the state had said she wasn’t on the list of its witnesses.

The trial continues in the Pretoria High Court on Monday.