Gun Quickly Taken From Crime Scene
As the late Zimbabwean former president Robert Mugabe’s son Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe (left) and co-accused, Tobias Matonhodze, appear in court today for the third time to apply for bail at Alexandra Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg, it has emerged that soon after the shooting incident one of their friends quickly took the gun from the scene of crime to hide evidence.
The gun was taken with the collaboration of insiders and outsiders to prevent it being subjected to ballistic tests that would identify the owner and other possible crimes.It may now have been hidden, destroyed or taken out of the country.
An inside source familiar with guns told The NewsHawks:
“After the shooting incident, the gun was quickly removed from the scene by one of the accused’s friends working with insiders and outsiders. They wanted to hide evidence right from the beginning. It may now have been hidden, destroyed or taken out of the country. Police may never find that gun.The second aspect of it was to prevent police from recovering the weapon to conduct forensic ballistic tests which may reveal a lot, including the owner of the gun, other crimes committed using it and connection to the underworld which Chatunga is linked to. Forensic ballistic tests analyse firearms, ammunition, and weapon markings to connect weapons to crimes, often acting as ‘ballistic fingerprints’. Key techniques used include microscopic comparison of bullets and cartridge cases, test-firing weapons, analysing gunshot residue, and trajectory reconstruction. These tests help determine firing distance, weapon type, and identify shooters, and link the gun to the owner, crime and even criminal networks or the underworld.”
A gun expert added:
“I used to work in a laboratory for a gun-manufacturing firm. So what you need to know is that inside the barrels of handguns and rifles are spiral impressions called rifling. The raised portions of the rifling are known as lands and the recessed portions are known as grooves. When a weapon is fired, these lands and grooves cut into the bullet, putting spin on it as it travels through the barrel of a firearm. Because bullets have an oblong shape, spin is necessary for accurate flight. The impressions of lands and grooves remain on the bullet after it has been fired. Since rifling characteristics can differ from one firearm manufacturer to another, forensic firearm examiners like myself can determine the type of weapon that fired a particular bullet by examining the impressions of the lands and grooves on the bullet. We examine the width, number, and the direction of the twist of the lands and grooves. For example, a 9mm pistol made by one company might have a barrel with 6 lands and grooves that twist to the right and another company’s 9mm might have 6 that twist to the left. In addition, the width of the lands and grooves may differ.Because each barrel will have imperfections left by the manufacturing process that will leave unique marks on a bullet, we can determine whether a bullet recovered from a crime scene or victim was fired from a weapon taken from a suspect. The idea is to remove evidence and stall the case, particularly if the victim is either disorieThey wanted to hide evidence right from the beginning.It may now have been hidden, destroyed or taken out of the country.nted, uncooperative or collaborating with the accused, not because of the Stockholm Syndrome, but as a result of being paid hush money or compensation. So this is going to be a very interesting case. It will test the investigators, the accused, co-accused, and witnesses.”
The bail hearing was initially set for Tuesday, but was postponed to today due to power failure at the court and outstanding documents that the state needs to provide to the defence.
Chatunga (28) is accuse of shooting his 23-year old gardener on February 19 at his Sandhurst home in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Although the media has been reporting that the house is in neighbouring Hyde Park, it is in fact N0. 37 Killarney Road, Sandhurst, Sandton.
