A British businessman accused of ordering his wife’s murder on honeymoon in South Africa was sent to the Priory Hospital on Tuesday, the United Kingdom Press Association reported.
Shrien Dewani (31) had been on bail at his family home in Bristol, but the South African authorities, which want to extradite him, asked that he be taken into custody after what was thought to be a suicide attempt last month.
Lawyers for both sides agreed on Tuesday that Dewani, said to be suffering from severe post-traumatic stress syndrome, should be admitted to the Priory Hospital in Bristol.
He remains subject to £250 000 bail and strict conditions including a curfew and the requirement that he report daily to a local police station.
‘Unlikely to kill himself’
A psychiatric report by Professor Nigel Eastman, written after the overdose, suggested it was “unlikely he intended to kill himself on this occasion”.
District Judge Howard Riddle ruled that from Wednesday morning, Dewani must live and sleep at the private hospital, which specialises in treating mental health problems.
The young businessman, who appeared more alert than at his previous hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in south-east London, spoke only to confirm that he understood the conditions on which he had been bailed.
The court heard on February 24 that Dewani was rushed to Bristol Royal Infirmary by ambulance when his sister dialled 999 on February 20.
She had discovered him collapsed in his bedroom after swallowing a cocktail of 46 pills, including diazepam prescribed to counter anxiety and help him sleep.
Eastman later wrote in his report: “As regards the overdose he took, in my opinion it occurred both in the context of specific events likely to worsen his mood and at a time when he was being asked to go to the police station to report.
“It’s unlikely he intended to kill himself on this occasion.”
SA authorities want to put Dewani on trial over allegations he ordered the killing of his bride Anni Dewani (28) in Cape Town, in November.
Anni Dewani, from Sweden, was shot when a taxi the couple was travelling in was hijacked in Gugulethu.
She was found dead in the back of the abandoned vehicle with a bullet wound to her neck after taxi driver Zola Tongo drove the newlyweds to the deprived township.
Tongo claimed his vehicle was hijacked and that he and Dewani were ejected before Mrs Dewani was driven away and killed.
In a plea bargain later, Tongo claimed Dewani offered him R15 000 to arrange the killing.
Tongo, from Bothasig, was sentenced to 18 years in jail for murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and perverting the course of justice.
Dewani denies arranging a hit on his wife. – Sapa-PA