The Anni Dewani Murder Case

DEWANI SHOOTING SEEMED ACCIDENTAL: DEFENCE

The way in which honeymoon tourist Anni Dewani was shot dead in Cape Town in November 2010 did not seem planned, her husband's lawyer told the Western Cape High Court on Monday.

Francois van Zyl, for Shrien Dewani, said the wounds caused by the bullet were not normally seen in an execution-type killing.

"It has all the hallmarks of a shot that went off that was not supposed to go off at the time."

Dewani is accused of masterminding the murder of his wife during their honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him, maintaining that the couple were the victims of a hijacking in Gugulethu, Cape Town, on November 13, 2010.

Xolile Mngeni is serving life in jail for pulling the trigger, while Mziwamadoda Qwabe is serving a 25-year jail term, and shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo 18 years.

During Qwabe's cross-examination it emerged that the men did not discuss at which location they would shoot her at or where in the body she would be shot.

Van Zyl questioned why Qwabe would drive the hijacked shuttle taxi to a residential area while Anni Dewani still needed to be shot.

"If a person wanted to sexually molest or rape the deceased by threatening her with a firearm, pulling her leg, that is not something one would easily do in a residential area," Van Zyl said.

He put it to Qwabe that he would have driven to a bushy area if that had been his intention or if he wanted to pull her out the car first so that the vehicle would not be damaged.

Qwabe said he could not comment.

Van Zyl hinted that perhaps the men had known that the husband was rich and that they could demand money if they kept his wife hostage somewhere.

Qwabe said he did not know the man was rich.

In re-examination, prosecutor Adrian Mopp asked Qwabe what the primary objective was that evening, to which he replied "to kill the wife".

Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso asked whether he agreed with the defence's suggestion that a kidnapping had gone wrong.

"There was never anything about a ransom," Qwabe replied.

Dewani seemed emotional as the defence asked questions about events in the hijacked car.

He sobbed softly, his lips trembled and he rocked back and forth. His team then passed a tissue to him.


Source : Sapa /je/jk/ar
Date : 13 Oct 2014 13:06
 
QWABE WANTED EARLIER PAROLE: DEFENCE

One of Anni Dewani's convicted killers Mziwamadoda Qwabe wanted an earlier parole date in exchange for testifying against her husband Shrien Dewani, the Western Cape High Court heard on Monday.

Francois van Zyl, for Shrien Dewani, asked Qwabe during cross-examination whether he demanded anything from the State before being called as its second witness last week Wednesday.

Qwabe confirmed he had previously testified against his accomplice and convicted gunman Xolile Mngeni and wanted to know "what is in it for me?" with Dewani's trial.

Dewani is accused of masterminding the murder of his wife during their honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him, maintaining that the couple were the victims of a hijacking in Gugulethu, Cape Town, on November 13, 2010.

Xolile Mngeni is serving life in jail for pulling the trigger, while Qwabe is serving a 25-year jail term, and shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo 18 years.

Van Zyl said Qwabe recently used a Legal Aid lawyer to write a letter to prosecutor Adrian Mopp, asking him to consider that he be eligible for parole after serving half of his 25-year sentence, not two-thirds as ordered by the high court.

When he pleaded guilty in the high court as part of a plea bargain in 2012, Qwabe said his willingness to provide evidence against accomplices was a mitigating factor for sentencing.

Van Zyl said he received this letter from Mopp, as well as the reply from the director of public prosecutions.

Reading out a portion of the reply, Van Zyl said the State stated it could not provide any guarantees or influence the outcome of the process.

However, at the conclusion of the trial, it could report to the correctional services department on the court's findings on his testimony and his co-operation.

Van Zyl reminded Qwabe that receiving earlier eligibility for parole would rely on his co-operation and compliance.

He was excused from the stand by Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso.


Source : Sapa /je/jk/lp
Date : 13 Oct 2014 15:36
 
Rouxenator said:
He arrange for him and his new wife to be taken on a helicopter trip, not a hit on her.
Click to expand...

how convenient

a broken man who just had his wife murdered doesn't go surfing for a hookup 2 days later
 
So these online dating things aren't as private as people think. It appears the admin or whatever of gaydar is testifying for the state about Shrien's profile on the website where he describes himself as a single gay man who isn't out yet. So not bi but gay.
 
nivek said:
how convenient

a broken man who just had his wife murdered doesn't go surfing for a hookup 2 days later
Click to expand...
He did not have her killed. If something like this happened to me, and living in SA of all places the chances is high, then they will be able to dig up a lot of stuff like this on me and use it as motive.
 
Just realized Francois van Zyl used to be our next door neighbour many years ago. Good on him.
 
Rouxenator said:
He did not have her killed. If something like this happened to me, and living in SA of all places the chances is high, then they will be able to dig up a lot of stuff like this on me and use it as motive.
Click to expand...

I also don't get how that can be used as a motive, it is going a bit of the OP way. If they wanted to use it as a motive then they would have to show that his family may have disinherited him if he didn't marry a woman and only married her for it. Unless they're yet to present evidence along that line it's a fail way to show motive. I do think he had her killed though whatever his motive.
 
UK POLICEMAN TESTIFIES ABOUT ANNI'S LAPTOP

British businessman Shrien Dewani deleted his user profile, which contained e-mails between himself and an undisclosed man in 2009, from his wife's laptop, a witness told the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.

The State's fourth witness, cybercrime unit official Mark Roberts, who is based within England's national crime agency, was called to testify on what he retrieved from the late Anni Dewani's Dell laptop.

The testimony was being heard during Shrien Dewani's trial for the murder of his wife in Cape Town on November 13, 2010.

Roberts made a working copy of the 256GB hard drive of the laptop, of which 239GB was occupied.

There were four active profiles on the hard drive, including Anni's, which was created on June 3, 2010 and was in use until November 11, 2010.

He used keywords to sift through all the data on the computer, including website names, family names, places in South Africa, gay fetish and watersports.

Prosecutor Adrian Mopp asked if what he found was a deleted profile.

"Yes, I did. The previous profile belonged to Mr Dewani," he replied.

His profile was created on January 17, 2010 and active until April 20, 2010.

Roberts said the activity during this period was e-mail and internet based.

He discovered e-mails that were transferred to the device and saved in Microsoft format, that pre-dated January 17, 2010.

"My second analysis discovered a lot of e-mail activity between Mr Dewani and a third person," Roberts said.

Mopp said this person's name would not be mentioned to protect their rights.

There were a total of 53 e-mails from the third person to Dewani between June 25 and August 13, 2009.

He did not have figures for the e-mails that Dewani sent to the third person.

"I read those e-mails and those e-mails gave me other keywords to use as well," Roberts said.

He extracted those e-mails.

Dewani's lawyer Francois Van Zyl said he would be objecting to the admissibility of those e-mails based on their irrelevance to the trial.


Source : Sapa /je/jje/lp
Date : 14 Oct 2014 11:17
 
JUDGE RULES DEWANI SEXUALITY EVIDENCE INADMISSIBLE

The judge in British businessman Shrien Dewani's trial on Tuesday ruled that certain evidence relating to his sexuality is not admissible.

"I have considered the arguments addressed to me. I rule the evidence inadmissible on the basis that it is not relevant," Western Cape High Court deputy Judge President Jeannette Traverso said.

She was addressing prosecutor Adrian Mopp after he attempted to lead evidence about certain e-mail communications between Dewani and an undisclosed man between June and August 2009 found on his dead wife Anni's laptop.

Mopp called his fourth witness, English cybercrime unit official Mark Roberts, on Tuesday morning to testify on the e-mails retrieved from a copy of the hard drive.

Dewani is accused of masterminding Anni's murder during their honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him, maintaining that the couple were the victims of a hijacking in Gugulethu, Cape Town, on November 13, 2010.

Mopp had to argue why the e-mails were admissible evidence after Francois van Zyl, for Dewani, objected to their relevance.

The prosecutor said Dewani had provided the court with a version of events around his sexuality and he wished to lead evidence around certain disclosures that were made in the e-mails.

Traverso asked why his sexuality was relevant.

"Here we have a set of facts which, in isolation, may appear to be a rather strange set of facts," Mopp replied.

He said the e-mails provided a context for these facts and referred to a liaison where certain disclosures were made and counselling given.

Traverso did not seem convinced and Mopp continued to argue in the absence of his colleague Shareen Riley, who was absent for a second day due to illness.

"It was apparent from the e-mails that the e-mails show he was conflicted about whether to get married or whether to come out," Mopp said.

"Obviously it is not a motive to kill but the man expresses a conflict within himself."

He said their principle submission was that this was relevant evidence.

In reply, Van Zyl said the e-mails provided graphic details about sexual preferences, what the men wished to do to each other and just two or three references to the conflict Mopp referred to.

"They clearly had a discussion on whether to come out. His advice from his friend is that commitment to marriage is a very serious commitment and he must think seriously about it," the lawyer said.

Dewani sat in the dock nodding his head and listening carefully.

Van Zyl said the e-mails were highly prejudicial to his client because it involved his character, and the dates were too far out to have relevance.

Mopp countered that he was going to lead evidence later that in September 2009, Dewani expressed a similar conflict to another witness they intended calling.

He wanted to prove that the courtship and relationship between Dewani and his wife was "not as plain-sailing" as he claimed.

Traverso seemed unmoved and said that was not in dispute. She said his plea explanation had made clear both his sexuality and troubles within the relationship.

She delivered her ruling on the evidence after a short adjournment.

The courtroom sat in stunned silence and Mopp looked worried as his prospects for providing evidence around a motive for murder seemed to dwindle.

The accused's family smiled and looked at each other.

Mopp said he would need a short amount of time to call his next witness.


Source : Sapa /je/jk/jje/lp
Date : 14 Oct 2014 11:43
 
COP TESTIFIES ON DEWANI STATEMENT

British businessman Shrien Dewani was emotional when approached by police shortly after he and his wife Anni were hijacked but was still able to make a statement, the Western Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.

Warrant Officer George Stefanus, the standby investigator on November 13, 2010, was called as the State's fifth witness to testify on the statement he took from Dewani after the hijacking in Gugulethu, Cape Town.

Dewani is accused of masterminding the murder of his wife Anni during their honeymoon in Cape Town in November 2010.

He has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him, maintaining that the couple were the victims of a hijacking.

Xolile Mngeni is serving life in jail for pulling the trigger and killing Anni, while Mziwamadoda Qwabe is serving a 25-year jail term, and shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo 18 years.

Stefanus said the hijacking was reported by Tongo, who told him he picked up two tourists in Cape Town and that they were attacked on their way back from Somerset West.

Stefanus's concern at that stage was the lives of the two tourists and they went to the Cape Grace Hotel in town to positively identify them.

At the hotel, Dewani met the group of policemen and Stefanus took a witness statement from him in a small room in the hotel because he wanted to find out where the perpetrators were.

"As I say, when he came down he was neatly dressed and stuff, but you could see he was a bit emotional," Stefanus told prosecutor Adrian Mopp.

He asked Dewani whether he was willing to talk about what happened and then listened to him from start to finish before asking questions and taking down notes.

Dewani apparently told him that Anni spoke to Tongo about the townships and then insisted that he take them to see the nightlife there.

He said Anni removed her wedding rings and put them under the car seat when they were attacked.

Stefanus said Dewani told him the total value of their stolen property was R40,000.

Mopp asked if Dewani was able to speak to him despite being emotional.

The policeman replied that Dewani was able to tell him everything in English and that after writing down the gist of what was being said to him, he checked with Dewani to make sure it was correct.

The interview took 45 minutes and Stefanus wrote down 4.10am at the bottom of the statement to indicate when it was concluded.

He said the statement was stamped when he dropped it off at the station the following day.

Mopp asked whether Dewani took the oath when making the statement.

"No, he didn't put up his hand. He didn't do that," Stefanus replied.


Source : Sapa /je/jk/jje
Date : 14 Oct 2014 13:57
 
http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/dewani-cop-s-evidence-ripped-to-shreds-1.1764905#.VD0aGPmSx8E

Cape Town - The trial of honeymoon murder accused Shrien Dewani came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday afternoon after his defence team scored a major triumph - a ruling that emails regarding Dewani's inner turmoil about his sexual orientation was inadmissible.

In addition, shortly before the adjournment, defence advocate Francois van Zyl SC ripped to shreds the evidence of the police official who recorded Dewani's statement.

George Stephanus interviewed Dewani during the early hours of November 14, 2010 at the Cape Grace Hotel just hours after his wife Anni Hindocha, whose murder he stands accused of, had been kidnapped.

During Van Zyl's cross-examination of Stephanus, it emerged that Dewani did not read his statement and did not take the prescribed oath to confirm that the statement was true and correct.

Stephanus did not ask him to swear to the statement, even though the document was presented as an affidavit, with a “commissioner of oaths” stamp affixed to it.

Explaining why he omitted to do so, he said: “Mr Dewani was emotional. And me asking him to say so help me God ... Where is God at that time?”

The police official also admitted that he did not record Dewani's address on the statement, as police officers usually do, saying he did not even know how to spell it.

Stephanus also confirmed that he did not depose to an affidavit to record what role he played that night and said the pocket book in which he had made his notes had disappeared.

The time that he finished taking the statement was recorded as 4.10am and, according to Stephanus, the interview process lasted no longer than 45 minutes.

This means that he started the interview at around 3.30am.

However, Van Zyl put it to him that hotel CCTV footage showed Dewani moving around in the hotel at around that time.
Click to expand...

Dewani is going to walk.
 
The chief witness might be lying. The chief witness, might actually be the murderer. The chief witness has developed selective amnesia.

Now the sexual preferences have been thrown out. The timeline is all up the pole. SAPS are just that. Where are the professionals in the police force? Monkeys.

There is going to be a huge angry mob comprised of people that backed the wrong horse. And all these people ,with their noses out of joint, are going to flood social media with nonsense.
 
CURRENCY EXCHANGE STORE OWNER TESTIFIES

The owner of a Cape Town currency exchange store on Tuesday insisted that businessman Shrien Dewani gave her US dollars to exchange in 2010 while his lawyer said British pounds were handed over.

Maria Bravetti, owner of the Golden Touch currency exchange store in central Cape Town, was called as the State's sixth witness in Dewani's trial in the Western Cape High Court.

She was warned that any evidence she gave could incriminate her and that she may be prosecuted if she did not answer truthfully.

Dewani is accused of masterminding the murder of his wife Anni during their honeymoon in Cape Town on November 13, 2010 and offering local men R15,000 to carry out the hit.

Xolile Mngeni is serving life in jail for pulling the trigger, while Mziwamadoda Qwabe is serving a 25-year jail term, and shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo 18 years.

Dewani has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him, maintaining that the couple were the victims of a hijacking.

Prosecutor Adrian Mopp said it was not disputed that Dewani and Tongo visited Bravetti's store mid-morning on November 13, 2010 to perform a transaction.

He asked her what currency Dewani handed over to her to exchange.

Bravetti replied: "American dollars -- 1500 dollars".

She said she gave him R10,200 in exchange and did not keep a record of the transaction.

While the transaction was happening, Tongo looked at jewellery and spoke to other staff.

During cross-examination, Francois van Zyl, for Dewani, asked whether she had remembered receiving dollars or whether this information had come from police.

Bravetti replied that she remembered it was dollars.

He asked whether she had the local currency ready and she replied that she sold the dollars to another dealer called Andre, who then gave her rands.

She said her assistant Thelma took the dollars to him and brought the money back.

Van Zyl says that Thelma made a statement to police in which she said Bravetti called her to the back of the shop and gave her gold to give to another dealer.

She said in the statement that the dealer gave her R10,000 cash and she took the money to Bravetti.

The witness shook her head and said Thelma was confused.

She added that gold had to be sold early in the morning or not at all. She also remembered quoting Dewani a rate of R6.80 to the dollar.

Van Zyl asked why Bravetti's statement said she handed over plus/minus R10,200 when she had testified that she handed over exactly that amount.

Bravetti replied that "plus/minus" was just an expression she often used.

"The accused my client, drew some 7000 pounds from his personal account in the United Kingdom before he came to South Africa for his honeymoon," Van Zyl said.

He said Dewani exchanged 200 pounds at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg and a further 800 pounds at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

"He will say he never had any dollars with him. He will say he came with pounds."

The witness was excused from the stand.


Source : Sapa /je/jje/lp
Date : 14 Oct 2014 15:42
 
DEWANI COP HAS POOR MEMORY: DEFENCE

The policeman who took a witness statement from murder-accused Shrien Dewani after a hijacking in 2010 was criticised on Tuesday for having a poor memory and not following procedure.

Francois van Zyl, for Dewani, cross-examined State witness Warrant Officer George Stefanus in the Western Cape High Court on his involvement in the police investigation against his client.

Stefanus was the standby investigator on November 13, 2010 when he received a complaint about a hijacking in Gugulethu, Cape Town, and took a statement from Dewani to try and find the perpetrators.

The taxi was found in Khayelitsha in the early hours of November 14, 2010, with his wife Anni's body slumped on the backseat.

Dewani is accused of masterminding her murder during their honeymoon in Cape Town. He has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him, maintaining that the couple were the victims of a hijacking.

Van Zyl criticised Stefanus for not making an affidavit explaining that he extracted information from Dewani. He asked whether he still had his copy book with notes.

"My copy book, I went to go look for it and it is gone, lost. It was gone and we couldn't find it by the station," the policeman replied.

Van Zyl asked whether Dewani made an oath and was sworn in at the time.

Stefanus replied that he thought Dewani was sworn in by reading the oath and that he did not put in the "so help me God" part.

He was asked why he omitted that.

"Mr Dewani was emotional and me coming with 'so help me God'; And where is God in that time?" Stefanus replied, making the public gallery and some members of the media s******.

Dewani kept a straight face in the dock.

The policeman said Dewani was crying at times and also said: "I hope they don't kill Anni. I hope Anni is okay".

Van Zyl said his client remembered a number of questions being fired at him, he was shocked by the events of the night and could not recall Stefanus reading parts of the statement back to him.

Stefanus replied that that was Dewani's viewpoint.

Van Zyl said Dewani would also say the word "township" was not in his vocabulary and that the chronology of the statement was incorrect.

The policeman insisted that Dewani used that exact word and that he only wrote down what was being said to him.

The defence looked at CCTV footage of the hotel and said it told a different story about Dewani's movements and the times in which he was interviewed.

Stefanus had testified that he interviewed Dewani for 45 minutes and finished at 4.10am.

Van Zyl said that in this time, Dewani and shuttle taxi driver Zola Tongo were seen talking in the reception area and passing each other later.

"I might be wrong with the time. I don't know. I am not sure," Stefanus replied.

Van Zyl put it to him that his memory was not as good as he believed it was.

He replied: "No, no, no, my memory is still good."

During re-examination, prosecutor Adrian Mopp asked where he had sourced the content of the statement.

Stefanus said he got everything from Dewani. He was excused from the stand.


Source : Sapa /je/jk/lp/jje
Date : 14 Oct 2014 15:10
 
he'll be home for Christmas at this rate with all these charges of murder charges being reduced to CH and a lesser sentence being given as well as proposed community service raised instead of jail term for all these murderers. ho hum.
 
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