Dewani defence call for case dismissal

The trial of a British businessman accused of murdering his wife on their honeymoon may be on the verge of collapse after defence lawyers signalled for the case to be thrown out.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Nov 2014, 22:17 BST

Care home entrepreneur Shrien Dewani, 34, has always denied plotting with others to kill new bride Anni Dewani on a luxury honeymoon in Cape Town, South Africa, four years ago.

Prosecutors claim the millionaire, who is bisexual, wanted out of his marriage and arranged a “hijack-gone-wrong” in which Anni would be killed and her husband escape unharmed.

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But Western Cape High Court judge Jeanette Traverso has dismissed sections of the state’s case, describing evidence about Dewani’s sex life as irrelevant, while prosecution witnesses have included men already convicted of Anni’s murder.

At the conclusion of the state case yesterday, defence counsel Francois van Zyl said they would make an application to the judge under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. It provides that the court may return a not-guilty verdict if the judge feels there is insufficient evidence to convict at the close of the prosecution’s case.

Dewani is on trial for allegedly plotting with shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and gunman Xolile Mngeni.

The defendant, extradited from the UK after a lengthy Home Office battle, claims the couple were hijacked while Tongo drove them through the rough Gugulethu township in his taxi on November 13, 2010.