Cape Town - The fact that Anni Dewani was not sexually abused on the night she was murdered in a Cape Town township has given her family a “glimpse of happiness”, her emotional father said on the steps of the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday.
Vinod Hindocha, supported by Anni’s cousin Nishma Hindocha, addressed the media for the first time this week after listening to one of the hired hit men detailing how she was killed.
“We are in South Africa to ensure that my daughter Anni gets justice… The witness… the accused, we heard the whole story. It was very difficult but at the same time, one glimpse of happiness was that he never said at any point that my daughter was abused.”
Hindocha did not want to comment further about the trial.
Mziwamadoda Qwabe was in the witness box testifying for the State against his former co-accused, Xolile Mngeni, and said he, Mngeni, and shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo planned to kill Anni on November 13,2010.
“But the instruction was about a husband who wanted his wife to be killed,” said Qwabe, who is serving 25 years in jail for the crime.
Anni’s husband, Shrien, who is in the UK, has been identified as the mastermind behind the murder, but has never been charged.
Tongo admitted in an earlier plea bargain with the State that Shrien approached him at Cape Town International Airport, a day before the murder, allegedly to arrange a hit on his wife.
Tongo is serving 18 years in jail for his role.
On Wednesday, Mngeni’s lawyer, Matthews Dayimani, grilled Qwabe about cellphone calls between himself and Tongo and a meeting they allegedly had with Mngeni hours before the murder.
Qwabe told the court that there was no exact plan of how Anni would be killed, but that he and Mngeni knew that his unlicensed firearm would be used.
“The only person that had to be harmed was the wife,” Qwabe said.
The trial continues on Thursday.
Cape Argus