Dewani Murder Case

For those of you who aren't familiar with this story it is a trilateral matter that was running in the background to the COP16 Summit between India, Britain and South Africa who will host the COP17 Summit.

On November 13th a newlywed British/Indian couple, Shrien and Anni Dewani from Bristol were honeymooning in Cape Town, South Africa. After having a meal at a restaurant they took a taxi back to their hotel and strangely passed through the poor Gugulethu Township. In the township their taxi was hijacked by two armed men who dumped the taxi driver and Shrien Dewani on the side of the road and drove off with Anni Dewani still in the car. The following day Anni Dewani's corpse was discovered in the abandoned taxi.

Worried about the impact the incident would have on their tourist industry the South African authorities swiftly arrested two men and the taxi driver for Anni Dewani's murder. At the first part of their trial all three men pleaded guilty and claimed that they'd been paid to carry out the murder by the victim's husband, Shrien Dewani. On December 8th the South African's issued an international arrest warrant for Mr Dewani and on December 9th he was remanded to Wandsworth prison by Westminster Magistrates Court in the UK. This is the same prison and court that handled the Julian Assange arrest warrant the day before. The following day, December 10th, the same court changed it's mind and granted Mr Dewani bail and he is currently residing at his mansion just outside Bristol.

Obviously Shrien Dewani deserves the right to a fair trial but one of the accusations is that although Mr Dewani is himself wealthy his new wife's family, the Hindochas, are a very wealthy Indian family of high social standing. Under Indian tradition once Shrien Dewani married Anni Hindocha he became part of the Hindocha family and entitled to part of their wealth. So the accusation follows that the marriage was simply one of convenience and Shrien Dewani always intended to kill his bride once the marriage had become legal. As for why he decided to stage the murder in South Africa it has been suggested that Mr Dewani has some previous experience in arranging murders in the country. There is also a suspicion that he may have been influenced by British media coverage of the attempted assassination of Faustin Kayumba Nyumwasa, the former head of Rwanda's intelligence service in South Africa during 2010's World Cup. There is no suspicion though that the murder was planned with any involvement from either the South African, Indian or British governments or intelligence services.

I apologise for not commenting on this sooner but I'm sure you'll understand that me commenting on it would probably only have made it much more complicated.