London/Cyprus - Both men are purported to have planned murders in South Africa – one was allegedly the hit man and the other was the orchestrator in two separate cases.
George Louca fled to his native Cyprus just before he was to be arrested for the murder of stripclub owner Lolly Jackson, while Londoner Shrien Dewani played the distraught husband after his wife Anni was murdered in Cape Town in November 2010.
But the newlywed was later alleged to have been the mastermind behind his Swedish wife’s killing.
Both cases became high-profile with public interest mounting with every little titbit released by police and the media.
Like the authorities, South Africans believed that both men should be brought back to the country where they allegedly committed their crimes and face the music. But both men fought back tooth and nail.
This week, Dewani was finally ordered to return and stand trial. He has been fighting his extradition for two years and his legal team has consistently argued his is not in a fit mental state to stand trial.
Westminster Magistrate’s Court Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle said on Wednesday although he was not fit to plead at present, that could change in the future and was not a barrier to his extradition.
Riddle ruled Dewani could receive appropriate care for his post traumatic stress disorder and depression in South Africa and should be extradited.
It has been a long wait for Anni’s family, who attended almost all the London hearings.
But this is not the end. He may still appeal Riddle’s decision.
And his legal team have said that they would. But if he is not granted leave to appeal, he will most certainly be flown to South Africa and stand trial.
And while Shrien pleaded mental instability, back in South Africa his hired guns went down for their part in the intricately planned murder.
Xolile Mngeni was convicted of premeditated murder for shooting Anni. Prosecutors claimed that he was a hit man hired by Dewani to kill his wife, something that Dewani has consistently denied.
Taxi driver Zola Tongo was jailed for 18 years after he admitted his part in the killing, and another accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, also pleaded guilty to murder and was handed a 25-year prison sentence.
And while Dewani may still have one move left, Luca’s time is up.
Last week, the justice department said he would be extradited to South Africa after losing a final appeal in the Cypriot Supreme Court.
In June last year, Louca was ordered back to South Africa to face criminal charges. But at that stage, through his lawyer, Sofronios Sofroniou, he immediately brought a habeas corpus application in the Supreme Court in Cyprus.
This is an application for a prisoner to be released from unlawful detention. Sofroniou argued that Luca’s detention was unlawful because some of the charges dated back six years, and there was little chance of a fair trial.
It was also argued that if Louca was brought back, his life would be in danger in the local underworld.
This application, however, was later denied.
So Louca appealed the decision. But his luck has finally run out.
So eager are justice officials to get him back on South African soil, they have declared the matter one of “urgency”.
Louca was arrested in Cyprus in March, almost two years after Jackson was shot dead at a house in Kempton Park on May 3, 2010.
Saturday Star