Damning evidence about the gunpowder residue found on the clothes and hands of husband killer-accused Bulelwa Ndudula has dealt her defence a serious blow.
In her plea explanation statement Ndudula, 46, says the gunshot residue got onto her when she was trying to help her bullet-riddled husband, senior government politician Sakhekile Ndudula, 52, where he lay at their Cambridge West home in East London, on September 14 2016.
She blamed mystery shooters who stormed their home and said she heard shots in another room while she stayed hidden in the kitchen.
But yesterday, Lieutenant-Colonel Noneka Zizikazi Gogela, who is chief forensic analyst in the SAPS forensic science laboratory in Pretoria, said her tests had shown that there were only two possible explanations for the gunpowder residue found on the defendant:
She pulled the trigger when her husband was shot eight times; or
She was no more than two metres away when the gun was fired.
There was so much primary residue on her red jacket – even under the collar – and her hands that it could not be argued that she got it from touching his body when he was injured.
Ndudula has pleaded not guilty in the High Court sitting in East London to one count of murder.
Her late husband was a member of the ANC Chris Hani regional executive and chief of staff of the provincial social development department.
Gogela testified that the amount of residue found on her hands and clothing showed she was a “primary courier” and not a “secondary courier” of the residue.
Gogela testified: “If one tests positive for gunshot residue, it means only one of three things: that he or she was the person who discharged the firearm, or was within a two-metre radius from the shooter, or that it could have been a secondary transfer of such particles. But from the forensic tests and results I got when dealing with samples related to this case, I ruled out the third option and can safely say she was either the shooter or within a two-metre radius of the shooter.”
Gogela said it was impossible for such an amount of residue to be found in a person’s clothing if they were outside the two-metre radius from where the firearm was discharged.“I am ruling out the possibility that she could have been a secondary carrier of such residue. This is because for a secondary carrier I would expect only the area of contact to test positive.”
Gogela, the state’s eighth witness in the trial, told Judge Igna Stretch that on September 23 2016 she was given an evidence bag by case investigators containing samples taken from Ndudula’s hands and jacket.
She later found positive gunshot residue in her right hand and also on her jacket’s right and left sleeves.
“On February 1 2017, I was further requested to collect and analyse more test samples from the red coat, which later tested positive for characteristic gunshot residue in the outer left sleeve, in its left pocket, inside the collar and in the left and right inner front part.”
Gogela took off her jacket and demonstrated to Judge Stretch that powder would not be found on the inside if the jacket had simply lain on a bed close to the shooting, as the defence has suggested.
Gogela told court that the method she used in conducting her tests and analysis “was the most reliable one and used all across the world”.
Asked by Judge Stretch whether it was possible to get such residue from holding someone who was shot, Gogela said it was possible, “but based on the amount and results we have, there is no way that it was a secondary transfer”.
Ndudula’s defence advocate, Mike Maseti, said when his client took the stand she would argue that her jacket was lying on their bedroom bed just a few steps from where her husband was shot.
In May three state witnesses testified that Mrs Ndudula stood watching as they lifted and loaded him into a car.
The witnesses were Ndudula’s tenant Noligwa Mkungela, who was the first person on the scene, her friend Vuyiseka “VJ” Ngoqo, and ADT security guard Vumani Majeke.
The state is represented by advocate Sakhumzi Mtsila and the trial continues this morning...