/ 5 December 2010

Dewani murder case to resume on Monday

Dewani Murder Case To Resume On Monday

The trial of three men arrested for the murder of honeymooning tourist Anni Dewani will resume at the Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town on Monday.

Facing charges of kidnapping, murder and robbery were Xolile Mngeni (23), arrested on November 16, and Mzwamadoda Qwabe (26), who was arrested on November 18, and Zola Robert Tonga (31), arrested on November 20.

Anni and her newly-wed husband Shrien Dewani were allegedly hijacked during a late-night visit in a minibus taxi to Cape Town’s Gugulethu informal settlement on Saturday, November 13 — after previously dining in Somerset West.

The hijackers allegedly forced the husband and the driver, Tonga, out of the vehicle. They then drove off with Anni still in the vehicle. She was found dead in the abandoned taxi in Gugulethu the next morning, with a bullet wound to her neck.

The plot thickens
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported that Tonga is expected to name a fourth suspect in the murder who has yet to be arrested.

“Late yesterday Tonga was on the verge of signing a plea agreement that would see him plead guilty, turn state witness and tell all,” the newspaper reported.

Another twist the United Kingdom’s Mail Online website reported on Saturday that the couple were not officially married.

“Not least among them is the fact that, as the Mail can reveal today, the lavish £200 000 ‘marriage’ they went through in Mumbai in November in front of 300 guests was never officially registered there, or indeed anywhere else in the world.”

Both the murder and robbery charges faced by the three men carry life sentences. — Sapa