These are the central characters in the honeymoon murder case:
- Anni Dewani, 28: Anni Dewani was born in Mariestad, Sweden, and grew up there.
She married Shrien Dewani in Mumbai on October 29 last year and planned to move to the UK to live with him.
On November 13 she and her husband were in Cape Town on their honeymoon when the apparent hijacking took place in Gugulethu.
In the early hours of the next morning Anni Dewani’s body was found, with a single gunshot wound to the neck, in the back of the hired vehicle she and her husband had been driven around in.
- Shrien Dewani, 31: The care home director from Bristol is accused of masterminding his wife’s murder.
His alleged motives are yet to emerge.
Shrien Dewani left Cape Town a few days after his wife’s death.
An arrest warrant was issued for him on December 7 and he handed himself over and was arrested at a police station in the UK.
He was later released on R2.7 million bail.
- Zola Robert Tongo, 31: The father of five from Bothasig, who had been driving Shrien and Anni Dewani around on the night of the orchestrated hijacking, turned State witness and confessed to his role in the murder.
In court documents he said Shrien Dewani had approached him on November 12 and asked him to help orchestrate his wife’s murder. Tongo said Shrien Dewani had offered R15 000 to have Anni Dewani killed.
Last month in the Western Cape High Court Tongo was sentenced to an effective 18 years behind bars. He is in jail.
- Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, and Xolile Mngeni, 23: These two suspects from Khayelitsha are in police custody.
It is alleged that they were the hitmen that Tongo asked to help plan Anni Dewani’s murder.
They are expected to appear in the Wynberg Regional Court next month.
- Monde Mbolombo: Mbolombo, who previously worked at the Protea Hotel Colosseum at Century City, is the fourth local suspect in the case.
So far he has only been named in court documents revealed during Tongo’s Western Cape High Court appearance.
In the documents Tongo said Mbolombo put him in touch with the alleged hitmen.
Police are yet to comment on Mbolombo. - Cape Times