Cape Town - Honeymoon murder accused Shrien Dewani has asked the Western Cape High Court to take a break from proceedings so that he can commemorate the anniversary of the death of his wife, Anni, whose murder he is accused of orchestrating.
The Sunday Independent has confirmed that Dewani’s legal team has forwarded a request for a day’s break. Dewani is in custody at the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital.
Anni’s family, including parents Vinod and Nilam Hindocha, are in Cape Town and have been attending the trial daily.
They’ve said on numerous occasions that they hope the trial will reveal the truth about the tragedy.
Yet, as their time without Anni approaches the four-year-mark, they are no closer to getting the answers they seek.
The State contends that Dewani approached taxi driver Zola Tongo to find a hitman and that Tongo had sought advice from hotel receptionist Monde Mbolombo.
Mbolombo contacted Mziwamadoda Qwabe, who brought Xolile Mngeni on board. Mngeni died last month, before having the opportunity to testify at the trial.
Qwabe and Tongo buckled under rigorous cross-examination by Dewani’s legal team, leaving many wondering what actually happened on that fateful night.
Dewani’s advocates say they have evidence that the men kidnapped Anni for ransom and that she was killed in a struggle when one of the men wanted to rape her.
The accomplices then concocted a story in which they framed Dewani, the court heard.
But the State has led evidence intended to indicate that Dewani’s behaviour after his wife’s murder was strange, and unlike that of a grieving widower.
Police captain Vinesh Lutchman, who acted as a family liaison officer before Dewani became a suspect in his wife’s murder, testified this week that Dewani refused to accompany relatives to visit the body.
Lutchman was the local policeman who spent the most time with Dewani before he returned to the UK. The court heard that Dewani identified Anni’s body two days after she had been killed, after a post-mortem had been conducted.
Lutchman testified that on November 16 that year – three days after the murder – a Hindu ceremony was scheduled to be held at the funeral parlour.
He told the court that Dewani did not want to attend the ceremony because he said he needed to shop at the Waterfront.
Defence counsel Pieter Botha put it to Lutchman that Dewani chose not to go to the funeral parlour because he had identified the body the previous day and the experience had been traumatic, especially because there had been an autopsy.
Botha also put it to him that Dewani went to the Waterfront because he wanted to buy thank-you cards for several people.
He added that Dewani gave Lutchman one of the cards as well as R500 in cash because Lutchman had gone beyond the call of duty when he assisted the family.
Lutchman admitted receiving a card but denied accepting cash, saying he would have had to declare it.
Another card, according to Botha, was for a couple from a local Hindu temple who had offered him moral support, and Dewani also left a card and a R15 000 tip for the staff of the Cape Grace Hotel, where he’d stayed.
The cross-examination of Tongo wrapped up this week with the shock claim that the defence team had evidence that Dewani was being framed.
Defence advocate Francois van Zyl SC placed on record that one of Tongo’s former fellow prison inmates, Bernard Mitchell, had told the defence that Tongo had confessed to this. But Tongo dismissed this as lies and denied that he knew Mitchell.
The week ended in the middle of Mbolombo’s cross-examination.
Mbolombo became emotional on Friday during an adjournment that he had requested at a time when Van Zyl was cross-examining him about the finer details of the alleged plot to kill Anni.
He testified that taxi driver Zola Tongo approached him to find a hitman and that he contacted Qwabe, whom he referred to as Abongile.
The parties may be asked to present argument on why Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso should consider granting Mbolombo indemnity from prosecution.
He had previously been granted indemnity on some charges after testifying in Mngeni’s trial.
But Judge Traverso said she was not sure that the indemnity applied in Dewani’s trial as well.
It is not clear whether Dewani himself will testify after the State closes its case, and there’s been much debate about whether he’ll apply for a discharge in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act. If he does not, the defence will call a ballistics expert and a forensic pathologist.
The trial continues on Monday.
Weekend Argus