Durban businessman who ordered hit on wife, jailed for life - again

Published Oct 15, 2018

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Durban - Clairwood businessman Rajiv Sewnarain has been handed a life sentence again for the 2010 murder of his wife Shanaaz Sewnarain. 

Sewnarain, appealed his first murder conviction and life sentence handed to him in 2010 and was granted a retrial. 

In March this year Sewnarain's re-trial began. 

On Monday Durban High Court Judge Shyam Gyanda said there were no substantial or compelling circumstances to prove why the minimum sentence of life imprisonment should not be imposed. 

"You killed your wife. We are fortunate that the death sentence has been scrapped but that is how seriously the court viewed the hiring  of assassins."

Shanaaz, a mother of two, was shot dead execution-style and her body had been found on the outskirts of Folweni (near Isipingo). 

Sewnarain who initially pleaded guilty to hiring and paying a hitman to kill his wife of 20 years because their marriage was fraught with arguments, later changed his mind, saying he was forced to make the confession to police. 

He said 15 minutes after the confession on December 22, 2010, he was jailed for life. 

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