Police may revive a two-year-old attempted murder charge against one of the men accused of killing honeymooning tourist Anni Dewani, it emerged on Wednesday.
Mziwamadoda Qwabe (25) who has been in custody since his arrest in November last year, is applying for bail in Cape Town’s Wynberg Regional Court.
Prosecutor Adrian Mopp told Qwabe his information was that Qwabe was arrested in August 2009 on a charge of attempted murder.
According to the police dossier the charge was withdrawn in March last year and the matter was no longer on the court roll, Mopp said.
Qwabe had been accused of shooting someone with his licensed firearm, and his gun had been ballistically linked to the incident.
“Yes, and the case was withdrawn,” Qwabe said.
“The investigating officer in this case has drawn that docket and referred it to his superiors,” Mopp said.
Under re-examination by his own attorney, Qwabe said he had not been recently told the charge would be reinstated.
Mopp also said in Wednesday’s hearing that police had a witness who gave Qwabe and another man a lift to the corner of NY 112 and NY 114 in Gugulethu on the night Dewani was killed.
“You told this gentleman you were going to meet friends who were travelling from Somerset West,” Mopp said.
“I won’t comment as those are those are the merits of the case,” Qwabe replied.
Zola Tongo, who has already been sentenced to 18 years jail for the murder, described in his plea agreement how he arranged to meet two hitmen in Gugulethu, after taking Dewani and her husband Shrien to a restaurant in Somerset West.
Tongo named Shrien, who is facing extradition from the United Kingdom, as the mastermind behind the staged kidnapping and murder of his new bride. — Sapa