LATEST NEWS ON DEWANI MURDER

fedrules wrote:The spin and counter spin on this story reminds me so much of the McCann case.

Allegations against the husband are simply nonsense. First of all, he hasn't been officially charged with anything and these are just rumours. Secondly, all local South Africans have been charged and arrested, and they haven't made any statements implicating Mr. Dewani. (yes they have) Thirdly, Anni had no life insurance and there was no will made, therefore there is financial no motive. Fourthly, even if the business is a few million pounds in debt, their total assets are worth far more than that.

The family are already in the process of expanding their business in a project worth 10 million pounds

, plus the couple just had a lavish wedding in India. Also it's not unusual for victims to have minor memory lapses after such severe trauma. The husband must be completely shattered after this incident and it's normal to experience some confusion. He's following treatment and I expect he will come back to SA when it's the time. I don't blame him for not wanting to set his feet back there! People should stop spreading unsubstantiated rumours about the husband until concrete proof is at hand. Some South Africans are in denial about the state of crime in their country. I've lived there for 7 years and I know the situation very well.

Who is this "source" anyway?
Ace Ace on November 27, 2010, 4:15 am

docmac wrote:Comment in another local paper:

Allegations against the husband are simply nonsense. First of all, he hasn't been officially charged with anything and these are just rumours. Secondly, all local South Africans have been charged and arrested, and they haven't made any statements implicating Mr. Dewani. (yes they have) Thirdly, Anni had no life insurance and there was no will made, therefore there is financial no motive. Fourthly, even if the business is a few million pounds in debt, their total assets are worth far more than that.

The family are already in the process of expanding their business in a project worth 10 million pounds

, plus the couple just had a lavish wedding in India. Also it's not unusual for victims to have minor memory lapses after such severe trauma. The husband must be completely shattered after this incident and it's normal to experience some confusion. He's following treatment and I expect he will come back to SA when it's the time. I don't blame him for not wanting to set his feet back there! People should stop spreading unsubstantiated rumours about the husband until concrete proof is at hand. Some South Africans are in denial about the state of crime in their country. I've lived there for 7 years and I know the situation very well.

Who is this "source" anyway?
Ace Ace on November 27, 2010, 4:15 am

'Knows' some things that have not been reported in the press. We know that Dewani has relatives in SA. Must be one of them, I guess.

Chris wrote:Perhaps the writer of the comment needs to refresh themselves on the rules of intestacy.

Dimsie wrote:From the article:

'This week, Dewani hired South African divorce and celebrity lawyer Gundelfinger to represent him in this country and Britain’s top PR firm Max Clifford amid his concerns that he was being set up by South African police to be blamed for his wife’s brutal slaying .'

So there's a pattern now - if someone is killed or goes missing in a foreign country, the procedure for the closest relative(s) of the dead or missing person is to hire a celebrity lawyer, hire a top PR person, start making allegations of framing by the police. That knowledge should come in handy for everyone travelling abroad.

In this case I have no opinion on who committed the crime or why they committed it, but I find the rush to blame the police and the hiring of PR people downright disturbing. The police have a job to do and it means they must suspect EVERYONE who might have even the slightest connection to the person who died. That has nothing to do with being 'set up', it's normal police procedure and should be respected as such. Anyone who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear from a thorough police investigation. And why on earth does this man, just like the McCanns, need PR people? He's not a wannabe celebrity who needs someone to spin his image for him, is he? Because that's what PR people do, they create an image and they market it, usually making plenty of money in the process. While this may be useful to celebrities whose face is their fortune or whose talent must be as widely advertised as possible, why would someone whose wife has been murdered need or want this dubious sort of help?

The Sunday Times has established that the lead investigator in the case has been replaced by a new team of detectives.

Murdered Anni 'in tears on honeymoon flight,' says father of British tourist shot dead in South Africa
By GEORGE ARBUTHNOTT
Last updated at 10:14 PM on 27th November 2010
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Questions: Vinod Hindocha, pictured here with daughter Anni Dewani, says she refused to sit next to her husband on their honeymoon flight
The British tourist murdered in South Africa burst into tears and refused to sit next to her husband as they flew off on their honeymoon, her father claimed last night.
Anni Dewani, 28, was shot dead when she and her new husband Shrien were hijacked by robbers as their taxi drove through a notorious township in Cape Town. Mr Dewani was released unharmed.
Yesterday Anni’s father, Vinod Hindocha, added to the mystery surrounding the case when he telephoned The Mail on Sunday and said: ‘We have heard that the air hostess noticed they were sitting separately and Anni was crying.
The air hostess apparently asked Anni if she would like to sit with Shrien, but Anni said no.’
It is not clear where this information originated from, or indeed how it was passed to Anni’s family. Pressed to elaborate, Mr Hindocha said: ‘We are not sure, it is something you will have to check out.’
Last night Mr Dewani’s British lawyer, Charlotte Harris, denied there was any hostility between the couple. However her statement did not refute the allegation that Anni had been crying.
She said: ‘Any suggestion that there was hostility between the couple on the aeroplane or at any other point during the honeymoon is completely false.’ She added: ‘The Dewani family are upset about the Press intrusion into their grief at this very difficult time.’

More...
Police launch murder probe after man is shot dead in car
Earlier, speaking from his home in Mariestad, Sweden, Mr Hindocha, 61, expressed disappointment that Mr Dewani, 31, had failed to return to Cape Town to try to identify the hijackers. A South African newspaper has claimed detectives want him to return to South Africa for questioning.
Taxi driver Zola Tongo, 31, and two local men have been charged with murder and robbery.
Mr Dewani has strenuously denied any involvement in the death of his wife. Max Clifford, the public relations adviser hired by Mr Dewani, said his client was not a formal suspect and would not be travelling back to Cape Town.
He said Mr Dewani was ‘under sedation’ after the shock of what he had been through.
Yesterday Mr Hindocha described how the murder had damaged his relationship with Mr Dewani. He said: ‘If Anni was alive today then our relationship would have been strong like father and son, but with Anni dead that bond isn’t there. I think he should go back to South Africa and point out the culprits.’

Witness: An air hostess has apparently claimed that Anni Dewani burst into tears on the flight with her husband
Mr Hindocha said he flew to Cape Town to join Mr Dewani and his father, Prakash, hours after learning his daughter had been killed. ‘Shrien came up to me with tears in his eyes and said, “I couldn’t take care of your daughter as I promised.”
‘He then described how they had been kidnapped, robbed, and how, after he had been thrown out of the window, Anni was killed.
‘But later they were doing everything without me. Shrien was doing all the paperwork in a different room. I didn’t know who he was talking to, what he was doing or where he was going. I was shocked that they weren’t telling me what was happening.’
Mr Hindocha, an electrical engineer, said neither the South African police nor British or Swedish embassies had contacted him in the 10 days since he left Cape Town.
He also revealed that Mr Dewani had told his daughter before the wedding that he had been engaged before but did not say why it was broken off.
He said the marriage between Anni and Mr Dewani was not arranged and her family had not paid a dowry to the Dewani family during the lavish wedding held in Mumbai in September, which is understood to have cost in the region of £200,000.
Mr Hindocha said: ‘We are part of the Lohana caste and dowries do not exist in our culture. If I want to give him something it is up to me.’

Together: Shrien Dewani, pictured with Anni, has strictly denied any involvement in her murder
He added: ‘Anni and Shrien were introduced by relatives in England about 14 months ago but my daughter had to make up her own mind. I never spoke to Shrien’s family before the engagement – my daughter did not want us to meet the parents until she was sure. I did know Shrien was well educated.’
Mr Dewani is based in Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol where he runs a chain of care homes. The couple had planned to settle in the West Country.
Mr Hindocha described the moment his family heard the taxi carrying Anni had been hijacked. He said he spoke to his daughter on the phone just a couple of hours before the attack and she had assured him she was having a ‘lovely time’.
But later he received another phone call, from Prakash Dewani.
‘Anni’s father-in-law rang around midnight and said, “Your daughter is kidnapped but Shrien is fine.” At that moment my wife knew. She cried and said, “She is not alive, I feel it.” Shrien’s brother, Preyen, rang and said he had arranged tickets for a plane from Gothenburg.
‘I arrived in Amsterdam, where I was to catch my connecting flight to Cape Town and I switched my phone on and called home, hoping to hear what had happened to Anni. Before I could say anything they were crying and I knew she was dead.’
THIS GUY SAID: 'EXCUSE ME. MY WIFE AND I HAVE BEEN HIJACKED'
From MIKE Behr In Cape Town


First witness: Simbonile Matokazi found Shrien Dewani after the robbery and subsequent murder of the latter's wife
A witness who encountered Shrien Dewani minutes after he was dumped by his wife’s killers has cast new light on the millionaire businessman’s account of what happened.
Simbonile Matokazi, 33, a local government auditor, says the businessman did not appear to have been thrown from the car on to sand, as Mr Dewani initially claimed.
Neither does Mr Matokazi’s testimony support the 30-year-old’s later assertion that he was dragged ‘struggling and screaming’ out of the passenger window.
He said Mr Dewani ‘had a suit on and a nice shirt underneath’ and looked neither ruffled nor bruised.
‘We just saw a decent guy,’ he added. Mr Matokazi’s observations were endorsed by a police source closely involved in the investigation.
‘The officer who reached him [Mr Dewani] said that it didn’t look like he was hurt,’ said the source. ‘He saw no injuries or anything. And there was no sand on his clothes.
‘It didn’t look like Mr Dewani had been in a struggle. He still looked smart, like he was coming out of a restaurant.’
After dropping off some friends at the airport, Mr Matokazi – who was with his wife – was about to park his car when he saw Mr Dewani staggering between some roadside shacks.
‘He said to me, “Excuse me, is there a nearby police station where I can report a hijack because my wife and I were hijacked”, ’ said Mr Matokazi.
‘I said, “Where is the car now?”
I asked a few questions about how long he had been out of the car.
‘I asked him what kind of car they were driving and he didn’t know. He said he thought it was a VW car. He was almost crying. In fact, he was crying.’
Mr Matokazi said he then called the police. ‘The guy was walking up and down, panicking and in shock. My wife was worried that the hijackers would rape his wife but I told her not to say that loud because it would upset him more.’
While they waited for the police, Mr Dewani claimed that he had been ‘kicked’ out of the car on to sand.
Asked if he appeared to have been dragged out of the car, Mr Matokazi said: ‘Honestly, no, there was nothing like that.’
But Mr Matokazi insisted that Mr Dewani seemed believable: ‘I even said if he was an actor then he must have been a good actor. Everything looked genuine that night.’
When the police arrived, they asked Mr Dewani for the registration number of the taxi and he said he could get it by ringing his family in London.
The police source said: ‘He tried to phone his family from the officer’s phone but he could only make local calls.
‘So Mr Dewani said we must take him straight to the hotel. It seems as if maybe the family hired the car for Mr Dewani.
‘Every time the officer tried to ask him questions, Mr Dewani started crying.
‘The officer would wait for Mr Dewani to calm down and then ask him again, but he just cried.’
HUSBAND'S PREVIOUS FIANCEE WAS DAUGHTER OF INDIAN AIRLINE TYCOON
By ABUL TAHER

Shrien Dewani was previously engaged to the daughter of a tycoon who founded the Indian budget airline SpiceJet.
In February 2009 Mr Dewani suddenly cancelled plans for the wedding, despite protests from his fiancee, Rani Kansagra, and her family.
It was around this time that he began dating Anni after meeting her through a relative in London. They married in a lavish ceremony in Mumbai a few weeks ago.
Miss Kansagra, 26, lives with her family in Northwood, Middlesex. Her father is multi-millionaire businessman Bhupendra Kansagra – who met Barack Obama when the US President visited India last month.
Last night Mr Kansagra refused to comment on the engagement between his daughter and Mr Dewani. He said: ‘I don’t want to get involved in this, I am not interested.’
Miss Kansagra also refused to comment but a friend of the family said: ‘Shrien suddenly broke off the whole thing and she begged him not to. Her dad also intervened, but it was of no use.
‘Now they think it was good, as her family did not like him much. He was a bit too showy and bit too full of himself. They are still angry at him for breaking off the engagement, but they are also relieved.’
The friend added: ‘Shrien was money-orientated, that’s for sure.’
Bhupendra Kansagra was one of the founding chief executives of SpiceJet, India’s second-biggest budget airline, with a fleet of 22 aircraft and 66 more on order.
When the airline was established in 2005, Mr Kansagra and his brother Suresh had a 13 per cent share in the company, which they sold in 2008. It is believed SpiceJet has a current market value of £160 million.
Mr Kansagra is now involved in the agriculture, oil and gas industries, and his companies operate in Britain, India and five Africa countries, including Kenya, which he left to move to Britain.
Last night Mr Dewani’s lawyer, Charlotte Harris, said: ‘Rani and Shrien met in August 2008. They got engaged in December 2008. They mutually decided not to get married in February 2009. Having spoken to the family, the relationship with his ex-fiancee did not end acrimoniously.’

‘Anni and Shrien were introduced by relatives in England about 14 months ago but my daughter had to make up her own mind.

It was around this time that he began dating Anni after meeting her through a relative in London. They married in a lavish ceremony in Mumbai a few weeks ago.

Wallflower wrote:Not really docmac.

‘Anni and Shrien were introduced by relatives in England about 14 months ago but my daughter had to make up her own mind.

It was around this time that he began dating Anni after meeting her through a relative in London. They married in a lavish ceremony in Mumbai a few weeks ago.

Police are hunting for a 31-year-old man who works for a top city hotel in connection with the murder of Anni Dewani, the honeymooner killed in an apparent hijacking in Gugulethu two weeks ago. They already have three suspects in custody.

The driver of the Dewanis’ taxi, Zola Tongo, 31, and Xolile Mngeni, 23, and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, are facing charges of murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court. Tongo has told the court he wants to enter into a plea deal with the state.

The fourth man being sought is understood to be a link between Anni’s husband, British millionaire Shrien Dewani, and Tongo, according to a source close to the case.

Yesterday, a man and a woman, with their faces hidden, were rushed into the back entrance at Manenberg police station to observe an identity parade. A large media contingent surrounded the police station, eager to see if Shrien Dewani, 30, would appear. Journalists were told both witnesses were local, and that Dewani was not present.

It remains unclear if Dewani, the director of a British healthcare company with reported debts of £6.25 million (R69.8m), has returned to South Africa to see the identity parade. On Friday two sources close to the case said he was in the country and would attend the parade. But Dewani’s Joburg-based lawyer Billy Gundelfinger strongly denied this, saying his client was grieving.

Last week, Dewani hired South African divorce and celebrity lawyer Gundelfinger and the Max Clifford PR firm in Britain to represent him, claiming he was being set up by the South African police for his wife’s brutal slaying. Clifford is perhaps Britain’s most famous public relations practitioner. He accused South African police of “muck-spreading”. He told the British tabloid The Sun yesterday that Dewani was being smeared with “foul” rumours. Clifford was quoted as saying: “It has been claimed it was an arranged marriage and there was insurance money on Anni’s life. “Both those claims are lies and are deeply hurtful to Shrien. Other rumours include the allegation he knew the taxi driver before the holiday, which is also totally untrue.”

In a statement yesterday Gundelfinger, said: “Contrary to reports, the prosecution is not arresting or charging my client Mr Dewani. “At this stage Shrien has not been asked to go back to South Africa. As you can imagine he has been severely traumatised by the country and the specific threats that he, too, may be a target in the South African press. “He is currently receiving medical assistance to help deal with the trauma. The family are in constant contact with the police and are fully co-operating.”

Gundelfinger said no negotiations were taking place to get Dewani to South Africa voluntarily or to attend an identity parade. “Dewani is suffering from shock and grief and his progress is being monitored by a doctor. He will be unavailable for interviews for the next few days.” Dewani protested his innocence in an interview with The Sun last week, saying: “How could anyone say I killed her?”

Top Western Cape crime lawyer, William Booth, who was at the Manenberg police station, said he thought it odd that Dewani had appointed a divorce lawyer. Last week Gundelfinger had called him for advice.

In response to reports in the British press that the police were under political pressure to pin the murder on Dewani, Melany Kühn, spokeswoman for community safety MEC Albert Fritz, said the minister would not entertain any speculation that this was a drive to protect South African tourism. “Someone did something and they have to pay for the wrong they did. The police should be allowed to do their work.”

Last night Mr Dewani’s British lawyer, Charlotte Harris, denied there was any hostility between the couple. However her statement did not refute the allegation that Anni had been crying.
She said: ‘Any suggestion that there was hostility between the couple on the aeroplane or at any other point during the honeymoon is completely false.’ She added: ‘The Dewani family are upset about the Press intrusion into their grief at this very difficult time.’

Chris wrote:

Last night Mr Dewani’s British lawyer, Charlotte Harris, denied there was any hostility between the couple. However her statement did not refute the allegation that Anni had been crying.
She said: ‘Any suggestion that there was hostility between the couple on the aeroplane or at any other point during the honeymoon is completely false.’ She added: ‘The Dewani family are upset about the Press intrusion into their grief at this very difficult time.’

And yet Max has been employed to present their side of the story for the press and public consumption. Presumably the comment translates as that they are upset at press intrusion unless it is on their terms.