Cape Town - The negotiations that led to the conclusion of a plea bargain between taxi driver Zola Tongo and the State - in which Tongo implicated British businessman Shrien Dewani in the murder of his wife Anni Hindocha - took place at a high level and involved the Director of Public Prosecutions himself.
This, according to Dewani's advocate Francois van Zyl SC, also led Tongo to give a sworn affidavit to Hawks detective, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Barkhuizen, about a week later.
Yet there were material discrepancies and contradictions between the affidavit and the plea agreement, Van Zyl pointed out.
Van Zyl was cross-examining Tongo in the Western Cape High Court in Dewani's murder trial.
It is alleged that Dewani approached Tongo to arrange Anni's murder.
Tongo, however, explained that the reason for the differences between the two statements was that he only recalled the finer details of the alleged plot as time went on.
But Van Zyl maintained that Tongo had time to make changes and did not do so.
The only difference between the two statements related to the amount of money he had been paid for his role in the killing.
Tongo said he was in a “critical” state at the time.
It earlier emerged that Tongo told Barkhuizen that Dewani had threatened to kill him if he did not make sure the killing took place.
This, however, was not mentioned in his plea agreement.
The trial continues.
IOL