London Evening Standard
Cape Town
Shrien Dewani was yesterday cleared of killing his wife on their honeymoon in South Africa and could return to Britain within days.
The British businessman, who has always denied any involvement in his 28-year-old bride’s death, showed no emotion as his murder trial collapsed.
Formally declaring him “not guilty”, judge Jeanette Traverso threw out the case saying that in the evidence of key witnesses it was impossible to know “where the lies end and the truth begins”.
Anni Dewani was shot dead in November 2010 as the couple took a cab ride through a township.
The state had claimed that bisexual Dewani, 34, ordered a “hit” on his new bride because he wanted a way out of the marriage and that the murder was meant to seem like a carjacking gone wrong.
But yesterday at Western Cape High Court judge Traverso said the evidence of the key witnesses was so flawed “there is no evidence on which a court acting reasonably could convict”.
She said that although there were “many unanswered questions about what happened that fateful night”, she could not allow public opinion to influence her decision.
The judge said it was essential for the prosecution to convince her Dewani had entered into a conspiracy to murder his wife with three men already convicted over the killing.
She said that the only credible witness who could testify against Dewani was taxi driver Zola Tongo - jailed for 18 years over the killing - but ruled he had lied in an attempt to incriminate Dewani.
The judge said Tongo’s evidence was of “very poor quality” and “riddled with contradictions”, and should be treated with “caution”, while his version of events was “highly improbable”.
She said Tongo’s explanations of inconsistencies under cross-examination were “simply not credible” but “an attempt to incriminate the accused”, while the evidence of the three convicted men “do not support each other” on almost every aspect.
She said she could not accept Tongo’s claims that Dewani had hired the taxi driver to kill his wife within minutes of meeting him, and that the other participants could be persuaded to take part so quickly.
“Apart from the contradictions, the entire story as told by Tongo is highly improbable,” she said. The accused simply approached Tongo because he was the first taxi driver he saw.
“There were manifest material contradictions and inconsistencies in his evidence. His evidence was of such poor quality one does not know where the lies end and the truth begins.”
The evidence of conspirator Mziwamadoda Qwabe, jailed for 25 years over the killing, “quickly disintegrated into a garbled mess,” she said, adding: “During cross-examination it became clear that Qwabe was a self-confessed liar.”
A third conspirator, Xolile Mngeni, died in prison from a brain tumour after being given a life sentence, while Monde Mbolombo, given immunity in return for truthful testimony, will now face prosecution for his role in the killing after the judge also branded him a “self-confessed liar”.
Dewani’s parents Prakash and Shila, and sister Preyal sat in the packed courtroom to hear the judgment, as did Anni’s relatives including parents Vinod and Nilam, sister Ami Denborg and brother Anish.
Dewani’s parents both burst into tears. Dewani himself betrayed little reaction but audibly exhaled as he went down to the cells for the last time.
Captain Paul Hendrickse who pursued Dewani for four years looked close to tears. The collapse of the trial is a huge blow to Swedish engineer Anni’s family, who have begged Dewani to give evidence and “tell the world what happened the night she died”.