Sending murder accused Shrien Dewani to SA to stand trial for murder would currently be “unjust and oppressive”, two British judges have ruled.
But that doesn’t mean Dewani is off the hook, the judgment handed down at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday has found.
In the interests of justice, “Shrien can only return to South Africa when he is well enough, and when his personal safety can be guaranteed,” should be extradited, the judgment added - and this will happen as soon as he is fit to stand trial.
Sir John Thomas, head of the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, along with Justice Duncan Ouseley, also ordered that the case be remitted back to the Westminster Magistrate’s Court for a further hearing.
Of concern to the judges was Dewani’s mental state, and his chances of recovery if he was standing trial in SA.
His lawyers had argued that his health and life would be at risk if he was extradited to face charges of orchestrating the murder of his wife Anni Hindocha while they were honeymooning in Cape Town in November 2010.
“Thus balancing his unfitness to plead, the risk of a deterioration in the appellant’s condition, the increased prospects of a speedier recovery if he remains here and, to a much lesser degree, the risk of suicide and the lack of clear certainty as to what would happen to the appellant if returned in his present condition, we consider that on the evidence before the senior district judge it would be unjust and oppressive to order his extradition,” the judgment read.
His unfitness to plead, Dewani’s lawyers argued, was because he was so ill that he was incapable of giving them instructions, or even following trial proceedings.
In previous court hearings Dewani’s legal team had said he was suffering from clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
In August last year British Home Secretary Theresa May signed an order for Dewani’s extradition after district judge Howard Riddle ruled that he should be sent here to stand trial.
Yesterday Riddle’s decision was questioned.
“Despite the highest respect in which we hold decisions of the senior district judge, we consider that he erred and should have exercised his powers under section 91(3)(b) and ordered that the extradition hearing be adjourned.”
In his appeal, Dewani argued his imprisonment in SA would be a violation of his human rights. He raised the issue of becoming a victim of sexual violence in prison, and the possibility of contracting HIV and Aids.
However, Judge Thomas ruled that they were confident there would be no such violation.
Yesterday his family welcomed the ruling, while the Hindocha family accepted they would have to wait a while longer for the truth about Anni’s murder.
“Shrien can only return to South Africa when he is well enough, and when his personal safety can be guaranteed,” the Dewani family said in a statement.
The family continued to proclaim his innocence, saying he was “determined to return to South Africa to clear his name and seek justice for his wife Anni”.
Following the proceedings, Anni’s eldest sister Ami Denborg read out a statement agreeing that it would be “oppressive” to send Dewani back to SA if his health was bad, but that they were “happy as a family to hear that the court has decided that it is in the interests of justice that he will go back”.
Denborg pointed out that there had been too many delays.
These were becoming painful for the family.
“We just want to know the truth because it is all about our dearest little sister who was murdered,” she said.
- Saturday Argus