London - Shrien Dewani is expected to be publicly questioned for the first time when a British inquest into his wife Anni’s murder resumes next month.
The 35-year-old British businessman, 35, was cleared of Anni’s murder in the Western Cape High Court last year, but to the dismay of her family did not have to testify in court.
Her father Vinod Hindocha is hopeful that coroner Andrew Walker will now call the businessman as a witness.
“There are so many unanswered questions that need to be put to [Dewani],” Hindocha told The Mail on Sunday. “This will be our last chance to find out what really happened. It’s our last shot at justice.”
Walker is due to decide on the scope of the inquest at a hearing on September 9.
If summoned, Dewani will be questioned under oath, first by the coroner then by the lawyer representing Anni’s family.
According to the British Ministry Of Justice’s guidelines “where relevant, the coroner will warn a witness that he or she is not obliged to answer any question which might incriminate him or herself”.
Anni, 28, was shot dead in November 2010 in Cape Town during their honeymoon. In December Western Cape Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso called a halt to her husband’s trial after an application from Dewani’s counsel that the prosecution case was flawed.
Dewani had fought a long UK court battle against extradition to South Africa before being cleared of instigating a plot to murder Anni.
The judge said the evidence against him was “riddled with contradictions”. But she added that it was “regrettable” that so many things remained unclear surrounding the murder of Anni, who was shot in a carjacking in Gugulethu .
Since his return to his home near Bristol, Dewani has kept a low profile. Last month The Mail on Sunday revealed he was spotted by a member of Anni’s family while on holiday in Kenya.
Hindocha said he was considering bringing a private prosecution against Dewani, but decided against it because his family felt it would “re-open too many wounds”.
“‘I want to hear from his lips why they went to the township – and why he left her. We have never been given the full story,” he said.
Mail On Sunday