Sim card links Mngeni to Anni killer

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Cape Town - The simcard of a man on trial for the murder of honeymoon bride Anni Dewani was put in the phone of one of her convicted killers, the Western Cape High Court heard on Monday.

Vodacom forensic expert Petro Heyneke said phone records showed that Xolile Mngeni's simcard was picked up from Zola Tonga's Nokia E90 phone at 9.03am on November 14, 2010.

She said the card was first placed in the phone at 8.47am, logged as an internet connection. The phone activity was picked up by a Khayelitsha reception tower.

Mngeni, 25, has pleaded not guilty to hijacking, robbing, and killing Dewani in Gugulethu on November 13, 2010.

Tongo had been shuttling Dewani and her husband Shrien around Cape Town during their honeymoon.

The taxi driver was jailed for 18 years as part of a plea bargain, in which he alleged that Shrien arranged for the killing of his wife in a faked hijacking.

As part of the hijacking, his phone was taken and he was ejected from the vehicle.

Heyneke said the last activity on Tongo's phone was an incoming call at 10.53pm, the night Dewani was killed.

The phone number was unavailable until 4pm the next day.

“At 5.13pm (on November 14), a new simcard was issued (and) the user did a sim swap. The simcard was also placed in a new handset.”

The new simcard was in use until November 25 that year.

The court heard phone evidence relating to a hotel receptionist, who acted as the middleman in the alleged murder plot.

His identity was being protected as part of a court order.

Heyneke said several calls were made between the middleman's phone number and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, who was jailed for 25 years for his role in the murder.

She said calls were logged between the two numbers at 7.30pm, 7.36pm and 7.37pm on November 12, 2010.

The day of the murder, the middleman received a call at 10.34am.

The next day, a call was made from the middleman's phone number to Tongo's number around 10.21am.

Various incoming and outgoing calls were recorded that afternoon.

Prosecutor Shareen Riley said the relevance of the raw phone data would be put into context by a crime mapper, who would show the links between suspects, locations and events.

The trial would resume on Tuesday, when an MTN cellphone expert was expected to testify. - Sapa