Crime scene evidence from the Pete Mihalik murder discussed in court
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Forensic ballistic expert Aasiyah Allie confirmed that she wasn’t able to identify the murder weapon because it wasn’t provided to her. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - Evidence collected from the crime scene where criminal lawyer Pete Mihalik was found with two gunshot wounds to the head was heard in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
Three men – Sizwe Biyela, Nkosinathi Khumalo and Vuyile Maliti – are accused of assassinating the father of two and the attempted murder of his children.
They are also charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition as the State alleges a 9mm pistol was used to execute the hit.
Forensic ballistic expert Aasiyah Allie confirmed that she wasn’t able to identify the murder weapon because it wasn’t provided to her, but from the two fired cartridges collected at the scene it could be deduced that a 9mm semi-automatic pistol was used in the commission of the offence.
She said Mihalik had sustained two wounds caused by bullets.
“The one penetrated the skull and the other one superficially perforated the deceased’s head,” she said, adding that Mihalik’s son could have been wounded by a bullet that entered through the bottom window.
“The bullet hole, that was found at the bottom edge of the window, this is the hole that most likely resulted in the child being injured because the bullet would have perforated the window and then separated and the core of this bullet would most likely have hit the son in the back seat,” Allie said.
She said the person who fired the shots was not too far from the window when Mihalik and his son were shot and these shots were directed at the driver’s window.
She said by looking at the driver’s side window, it could be estimated that the first shot in the middle of the window was fired from a 90 degree angle, while the second shot to the bottom of the window was fired slightly to the right.
Another witness, Charl Prince, a policeman at Sea Point Police Station said he escorted a civilian with Mihalik’s injured son to Somerset Hospital where he was informed that the boy had to be transferred to remove a bullet.
“The doctor told me the boy was stable, however he told me he needed to be transferred to Christiaan Barnard hospital to remove the bullet from his jaw,” he said.
The State said a trial-within-a-trial should be expected, because the admissibility of the warning statement made by Khumalo, wherein he makes certain admissions, has been disputed.