Fresh Meyiwa murder trial legally sound decision - Adv
The decision to restart the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial from scratch was taken to prevent any further legal complications down the line.
That's the opinion of a legal expert.
The high-profile trial of the five men accused of gunning down the former Bafana Bafana captain in 2014 will have a new sitting judge when the matter resumes later this month.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng has come out of retirement to take over from the suspended Judge Tshifhiwa Maumela.
Advocate Sunil Singh says even though the decision to start afresh is legally sound, it will come as a blow to the Meyiwa family, witnesses and the accused.
"It is two sides of the same coin in that in one sense, if, for example, there is an acquittal by this judge, they may very well come back and say because the other judge was not in a position to make fair judgement and coming back to this judge now and having saying he didn't understand the evidence it can go against them or if they find the accused guilty, the accused can say they didn't have a fair trial because the judge did properly understand it."
The accused are set to return to the High Court in Pretoria on 17 July.
