South Africa’s High Court found British businessman Shrien Dewani not guilty of arranging the murder of his wife, Anni, during their honeymoon in Cape Town four years ago.
Judge Jeanette Traverso cleared Dewani, 34, of charges, saying the state failed to prove his involvement in a murder conspiracy and that prosecution witnesses lacked credibility.
Traverso delivered the ruling after deliberating for two weeks on arguments by Dewani’s lawyers that the case should be dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
Photo: Reuters
Anni’s family left the court without commenting, while Dewani’s relatives hugged each other and his mother put her hands together and said a prayer.
Dewani said he and his wife were hijacked while driving in Cape Town’s Gugulethu Township late on Nov. 13, 2010, and he was forced out of the vehicle.
Anni’s body was found in the abandoned taxi the next morning.
Traverso said that the only person who could directly implicate Dewani in the killing was taxi driver Zola Tsogo, who testified that Dewani agreed to pay him and two accomplices 15,000 rand (US$1,310) to murder Anni and make it appear like a botched robbery.
Tongo’s evidence “was riddled with contradictions,” Traverso said.
It contradicted that of other witnesses and his version of what transpired was “highly improbable” in a number of instances, Traverso said, adding that various aspects of the evidence given by Mziwamadoda Qwabe, one of the two hitmen who carried out the killing, were also “unsatisfactory.”
Prosecutors had alleged that Dewani paid hit men to kill Anni, and charged him with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Dewani was extradited from Britain on April 8 and his trial got under way on Oct. 6. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Dewani has been held at Cape Town’s Valkenberg Hospital since his first court appearance after his lawyers argued he needed psychiatric treatment.
Additional reporting by AP
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