South African court decides whether to scrap Dewani murder trial

By Mike Cohen, Bloomberg

South Africa's High Court is due to rule today on whether to scrap the trial of British businessman Shrien Dewani, who's accused of arranging the murder of his wife, Anni, during their honeymoon in Cape Town four years ago.

The state prosecutor opposed the application for the case to be discharged. Judge Jeanette Traverso is scheduled to begin delivering her ruling at 10 a.m. local time.

Defense lawyer Francois van Zyl last month asked Traverso to dismiss the case, saying the state failed to prove Dewani's involvement in a murder conspiracy and that prosecution witnesses lacked credibility. South African law allows for an accused to be discharged without mounting a defense if the state's case has no reasonable prospect of success.

Prosecutors allege Dewani paid hit men to kill Anni, and charged him with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating the ends of justice. Dewani was extradited from the U.K. on April 8 and his trial got under way on Oct. 6. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

"It would be a terrible development in what has been a four-year wait if we and the people of South Africa are not afforded the full story," Anish Hindocha, Anni's brother, said at a Dec. 3 press conference in Cape Town that was broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corp. "It will also mean a lifetime of torture for me and my family, especially my mom and dad."

Male Prostitutes

In a statement read out by Van Zyl on Oct. 6., Dewani said that while he considered himself bisexual and had sexual relations with male prostitutes, he loved Anni and wanted to marry her.

He said he and his wife were hijacked while driving in Cape Town's Gugulethu township late on Nov. 13, 2010 and he was forced out of the vehicle. Anni's body was found in the abandoned taxi the next morning.

Zola Tongo, the taxi driver who testified that Dewani agreed to pay him and two accomplices 15,000 rand ($1,329) to murder Anni and make it appear like a botched robbery, was not a reliable witness, Van Zyl told the court on Nov. 24. It was "improbable" that a foreign tourist would ask a driver to organize a hit on his wife within half an hour of arriving in the country, he said.

Changing Evidence

Tongo had also changed his evidence under cross-examination, and his version of events was at odds with the testimony of Mziwamadoda Qwabe, one of two men contracted to carry out the killing, Van Zyl said.

Tongo is serving an 18-year jail term and Qwabe a 25-year sentence for their role in the murder. Xolile Mngeni, who fired the shot that killed Anni, was serving a life sentence when he died from a brain tumor in October.

Dewani has been held at Cape Town's Valkenberg Hospital since his first court appearance after his lawyers argued he needed psychiatric treatment.

South Africa's murder rate is 6.7 times higher than that of the U.S. There were 17,068 homicides committed in the country in the 12 months through March, about 800 more than the previous year, latest police data shows.