/ 9 June 2011

Shocking security around Dewani ‘hitman’

Murder accused Shrien Dewani Reuters
Murder accused Shrien Dewani Reuters

An investigation is under way into a security lapse which led to a journalist ”bumping into” the alleged hitman in the Dewani murder case while he was being treated in hospital.

The attorney general’s office in Cape Town is to investigate apparent security lapses around the man alleged to have killed Swedish tourist Anni Dewan at the behest of her husband, Shrien.

Cape Town prison authorities transferred the ailing Xolile Mngeni (23) from Pollsmoor Prison to Groote Schuur hospital to receive treatment for a brain tumour, but neglected to inform police to make security arrangements for the high-profile prisoner.

Mngeni is a key suspect in the trial of British businessman Shrien Dewani, accused of masterminding the plot to kill Anni on their honeymoon. A bid to extradite Dewani to face trial in South Africa continues in London on July 18.

When an awaiting-trial prisoner is moved from prison to a public hospital, it is the police who are responsible for security. Yet the department of correctional services decided in this case to use its own staff to guard Mngeni, and its security measures have been remarkably lax, according to a man who encountered Mngeni at Groote Schuur.

The Mail & Guardian has interviewed a journalist who said he travelled in a lift at the hospital with Mngeni, who was accompanied by only one prison officer.

The prisoner appeared to be unshackled as he lay on a hospital bed in the lift, clutching his hospital records, according to the journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The journalist tried to engage with Mngeni about what had happened to his head, which was heavily bandaged.

Mngeni did not respond but told the prison officer that his head hurt before he was wheeled away.

Last week, Mngeni failed to arrive at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court for his scheduled appearance, and it soon became clear that the police, the national prosecuting authority and Mngeni’s attorney were completely unaware the suspect had been transferred to hospital three weeks previously.

Police spokesperson McIntosh Polela said it was usual procedure that an awaiting-trial prisoner be guarded by the police when removed from prison.

”However in this case Correctional Services (at Pollsmoor) did not inform the South African Police Service because they felt they had other prisoners who were under guard at the same hospital,” he said. ”They believed the same guards could guard Mngeni.”

Polela said the attorney general’s office in Cape Town had taken up this matter with the correctional services department.

The national prosecuting authority in the Western Cape, Eric Ntabazalila, remained tightlipped. ”We are waiting for a report on the condition of Mr Mngeni, and we do not want to speculate on what will happen,” he said.

Police visited Xolile Mngeni and his doctors in Groote Schuur hospital last week, and were satisfied he was ‘seriously ill” with a brain tumour.”

It has been reported that Mngeni is suffering from a malignant brain tumour, but the diagnosis could not be confirmed. The prisoner underwent a second operation to remove the brain tumour this week.

While it might be true that Mngeni would not be able to bust out of hospital in his condition, concerns have been raised in legal circles that security would have to be tight around this prisoner because his life could be in danger.

Mngeni was already a wanted man when he was arrested for the murder of Anni Dewani after failing to appear in a Khayelitsha court for possession of the drug ecstasy. The M&G has established he had been charged and released on bail in several criminal cases, but most were withdrawn or struck off the court roll. Police and court records do not supply reasons why this happened.

Simphiwe Xako, the spokesman for the Western Cape correctional services, said that he could give no details about Mngeni for ‘security reasons.”

‘That matter is treated with absolute confidentiality,” he said. ‘We are very careful about security arrangements around Mngeni and concerned for his safety.”

Xako said Mngeni was being guarded 24 hours a day.

Mngeni’s attorney Vusi Tshabalala said he was caught unawares about his client’s whereabout in court last week.

Tshabalala said he had later heard through Mngeni’s murder co-accused, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, that his client fell ill three weeks before his scheduled appointment in court.

‘I will await the medical report about his condition,” Tshabalala said. ‘The prison authorities were not legally obliged to let me know, but they had a legal duty to see that he gets treatment.”

Tshabalala said it had been established that Mngeni had not been attacked in prison.

  • Even if alleged hitman Xolile Mngeni were unable to testify or died from a brain tumour, police sources say the case against Dewani would still be watertight due to ”overwhelming evidence” that he masterminded the plot to kill his wife Anni in Cape Town in November 2010.

     

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