Honeymoon murder: Groom held in custody

BUSINESSMAN Shrien Dewani was behind bars last night after being accused in court of the murder of his new bride Anni.

Shrien Dewani 31 in handcuffs yesterday Shrien Dewani, 31, in handcuffs yesterday.

The 31-year-old millionaire had been granted £250,000 bail when he was brought before magistrates to face extradition to South Africa.

However, City of Westminster Senior District Judge Howard Riddle was forced to remand him in custody after the South African government lodged an appeal against his bail decision.

Judge Riddle said after hearing the case for and against granting Dewani bail: “It will be clear to anyone who has heard the two competing accounts that the factual difference is stark.

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“There is at the very least a real issue with this case. In other words the evidence is such that there is a real possibility that this defendant will be acquitted in due course.”

In an hour-long hearing, prosecutors said Dewani faced a charge equivalent to the British offence of conspiracy to murder.

Ben Watson, representing the South African Judicial Authority, claimed that Dewani paid the equivalent of £1,400 to have Anni, 28, shot dead in Cape Town on November 13.

He allegedly arranged it through his driver Zola Tongo, who had found two hitmen willing to kill Anni during a supposed car-jacking.

The conspiracy was described by Tongo, who was jailed on Monday after pleading guilty to his part in the murder.

As the issue of bail was discussed, Dewani, dressed in a maroon hooded top and grey jogging bottoms, listened intently.

He looked tired and unshaven and spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address. He also managed a weak smile for his counsel Clare Montgomery QC.

Members of his and his wife’s families were present in court for the hearing, which followed his arrest on Tuesday night.

Mr Watson said the South Africans believed Dewani “had done something like this before” and claimed “he wanted the murder to look like a hijacking.”

He said police first thought the murder was straightforward but grew suspicious when they heard that Tongo had taken the couple to a restaurant which was closed.

They were also puzzled by the fact that neither Dewani nor the driver were injured in the incident.

Mr Watson said it was peculiar too that they were taken through the dangerous township of Gugulethu. Ms Montgomery responded by telling the court that her client was being held on the word of self-confessed robbers and murderers desperate to escape life sentences.

She branded the case against him “flimsy” and suggested it had been cooked up to defend the reputation of South Africa as a tourist destination.

She added that Dewani came from a respectable family in Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol, and had never been involved in crime.

She said: “What has happened has been devastating, a nightmare for him to lose his wife and now to be subject of these allegations.

“But he is personally willing to deal with these allegations and in my submission he is reasonably confident they come from men with nothing to lose and everything to gain.”

Ms Montgomery said there is no evidence that her client has travelled to South Africa before and could not have arranged another deadly hijacking.

She added that financial records showed he had enough money to pay the gang only if he spent nothing at all during the honeymoon. She said it also seemed unlikely that Dewani could have arranged a professional hit in the one-and-a-half hours between arriving in South Africa and reaching his hotel.

“That is an unfeasibly short time even for an experienced criminal to recruit a taxi driver. It is improbable in the extreme given Mr Dewani’s background,” she added.

Last night Anni’s sister Ami Hindocha described the family’s agony to Channel 4 News. She said: “It’s really difficult for the family to hear this, for everyone in this situation, and all we want is the truth.”

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