Court hears about Anni’s jewellery

Cape Town-03/09/12-Xolile Mngene at the Cape High Court for his trial in his role in the murder of Anni Dewani.Picture:Brendan Magaar. reporter:Shellee Geduld

Cape Town-03/09/12-Xolile Mngene at the Cape High Court for his trial in his role in the murder of Anni Dewani.Picture:Brendan Magaar. reporter:Shellee Geduld

Published Sep 5, 2012

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Cape Town - A man accused of killing honeymooner Anni Dewani slept in a shack where ladies' jewellery was found stashed in the roof, the Western Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.

Xolile Mngeni's childhood friend, 26, whose identity is being protected, said he let Mngeni sleep in his Khayelitsha shack on Sunday, November 14, 2010.

He said Mngeni and his girlfriend slept in the shack, while he slept over at a friend of the girlfriend in Y-section.

Dewani was killed in Gugulethu on November 13, 2010, in an apparent hijacking while on honeymoon with her husband Shrien.

Mngeni has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.

A woman previously testified that she found a woman's bracelet and a watch in the shack at the back of her property.

The items, which were in a plastic money bag, had been stashed in the roof frame.

Shareen Riley, for the State, asked the witness how he knew Mngeni had slept in the shack.

“He left his jacket at my shack and the sheet was dirty,” the friend said.

The witness, Mngeni and two women were arrested at the shack on November 16, 2010.

Police confiscated a brown Nokia cellphone found under the mattress, on the same side as Mngeni had apparently slept.

The court heard earlier that the witness saw his friend with the cellphone early that Sunday morning. The accused had told him he “picked it up at Ilitha Park”.

However, Mngeni told him while walking together later in the day that he had stolen the phone in Ilitha Park and robbed and killed a woman there too.

He pointed out the phone before the court as the one Mngeni had.

Mngeni apparently did not own a phone at the time and used the phones of a witness and another friend to keep in contact.

The trial continues. - Sapa

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