Cape Town - A married couple, seen in digital photos in a suspect's possession, were the same people he saw on a subsequent television broadcast, a witness told the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
The State witness, 26, said a television image he saw some time after November 14, 2010, showed the same people he had seen on a digital camera in his friend Xolile Mngeni's possession.
“It's the same I saw on television as time went on. It was alleged (on television)... that a tourist had been shot dead.”
Anni Dewani was killed in Gugulethu on November 13, 2010, in an apparent hijacking while on honeymoon with her husband Shrien.
Mngeni is on trial and has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The witness, a friend of the accused, cannot be identified because of a court order to protect him and his family.
He testified on Monday that he saw Mngeni around noon on November 14, 2010, with a silver digital camera.
The witness asked to see the camera, turned it on and saw a photo of a smartly dressed couple, the man was in a suit and the woman wore what looked like a wedding dress. He saw numerous other photos of the couple.
On Tuesday, the defence cross-examined the witness on his testimony.
Qalisile Dayimani asked him how he came to speak to the police about the murder.
The witness said he had heard that Mngeni was on television but did not know why, and asked a friend.
“He then told me something about Indians being robbed or Indian culture... to cut the story short, I am the person who phoned police and told them I know something.”
Mngeni's friend spoke to a member of the flying squad who referred him to a lieutenant-colonel in the Hawks unit.
He told the officer that he saw Mngeni and two other men in a silver Volkswagen Sharan outside a friend's house in Sidima Crescent, Khayelitsha, on the day Dewani was killed. - Sapa