Staff Writer
THE Western Cape High Court was due today to start hearing arguments for and against a discharge of the case against British businessman Shrien Dewani, who is accused of having planned the murder of his wife.
Following the close of the prosecution’s case against Dewani last week, his lawyers had filed their heads of argument for his discharge on charges of conspiring to kill his wife Anni.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said the State had filed its responding papers. “We will now argue before Judge Jeanette Traverso (this) morning.”
Dewani stands accused of orchestrating the murder of his Swedish bride Anni four years ago, in what is alleged to have been a staged hijacking during the couple’s honeymoon in November 2010.
Since the trial began on October 6, when Dewani pleaded not guilty to all five charges against him, the State called 16 witnesses in a bid to prove its case.
Prosecutor Adrian Mopp told the court that witness Warrant Officer Pieter Engelbrecht, a primer (gunshot) residue expert, had been asked to prepare a supplementary report dealing with one particular aspect. But Engelbrecht said in court he felt he was not competent to testify on primer residue.
Judge Traverso slammed the State for not having someone ready to testify.
Taxi driver Zola Tongo, the man Dewani was alleged to have asked to arrange the killing, had testified that Dewani had approached him with a job offer to kill his female “business partner” and was to pay R15 000.
Dewani had contended that on the night of the hijacking, he kept R10 000 in Anni’s handbag as part payment for a private helicopter trip, which was to cost R15 000.
Under cross-examination, the defence grilled Tongo about a number of “differences and discrepancies” between his testimony in court, his police statement and his plea bargain.