Shrien Dewani’s legal team will paint South Africa as a banana republic when he appears at his extradition hearing on Thursday in London.
This emerged this week when Kamlesh Vyas, Shrien Dewani’s family priest, warned the man accused of orchestrating his wife Anni’s murder: “If you go to South Africa, you will be killed.”
As the hysteria builds before Dewani’s extradition hearing, Vyas, the “paditji” or leader of the Bristol Hindu Temple, warned his congregation member, who lives in nearby Westbury-on-Trym: “The way South African politics works, I don’t think it is safe for him to go to South Africa.
“You won’t get a fair trial, no way, because South Africa would like to clear its image in front of people for their tourism industry.”
Dewani, currently on £250 000 (R2.7 million) bail over the honeymoon killing of his wife Anni on November 13, insists he played no part in her murder, though he was released uninjured when their vehicle was hijacked in Cape Town.
Vyas told the Bristol Evening Post: “Why does he have to go there for a trial? In South Africa you can buy anything, including the law.
“Why can’t he be put on trial here, or go to another country in Europe, where he can have a fair trial? The British system, from the police to the prisons and judiciary, is not corrupt.
“The way the media have portrayed Shrien, if he goes to South Africa he will be killed, by somebody in prison or anywhere.
“All our prayers are with the Dewani family. As a community, we will be there for them. When people at the Hindu temple heard the sad news about Anni’s death, they were shocked. They want to stand shoulder to shoulder with the family.
“That is how we are as a community – we feel like we are one family.
“I feel really sorry for them. They don’t deserve these things, but because of their strong faith and prayers they will come out all right.”
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe gave the assurance earlier this week that Dewani would be presumed innocent until proved guilty and the constitution guaranteed his right to a free and fair trial.
Friends insist Dewani is “a shell of a man, a zombie” and that only his deep Hindu faith and “great inner strength” have got him so far.
With celebrity publicist Max Clifford orchestrating a media campaign on behalf of Dewani, local papers in Bristol this week are carrying quotes from “friends” claiming Shrien has lost weight and is being monitored by doctors. They fear he could do “something drastic”.
One such friend, Pankaj Pandya – “a family friend for almost 30 years” and treasurer of the Hindu temple in Redfield near Bristol – is quoted as saying: “I visited Shrien with my wife two weeks ago… He had lost a lot of weight and looked like a zombie…
“I know there is concern in the family that he could topple over… I am sure there is a fear that he could kill himself.”
Pandya, who revealed that Dewani’s father, Prakash, is a trustee of the local temple, said, “There is an inner strength in him… and I believe he will pull through it.
“My rational mind says that this is all wrong and a conspiracy by police or members of the political fraternity of South Africa who wish to protect their self-interests, mainly the tourist industry.
“In my view, he should not go to South Africa at all and he should try to prove his innocence in the UK. If he goes to South Africa, he will be locked up in a notorious jail somewhere. He will not be bailed and just put in jail.”
Margaret Stewart, who worked for Dewani’s care home business PSP Healthcare which made a £4m loss last year, was also vocal in the defence of her ex-boss.
She said: “I went to their home on Saturday with my husband, and have spoken with Shrien.
“He just looks a shell of a man. He doesn’t look like he is sleeping or eating, he has lost so much weight and he just looks empty.
“They are a strong family, very close and deeply religious, and they are fortunate to have that faith to fall back on. But they themselves have all been devastated by this, and in more than one way.
“I can only pray for them and hope that they stay strong.”
Clifford claims the case against Dewani is “flawed and flimsy” as the media build up to the extradition hearing on Thursday. - Weekend Argus