CAPE TOWN // A South African judge has acquitted British millionaire businessman Shrien Dewani of murdering his bride on their honeymoon, saying the state had not adequately made the case against him.
Judge Jeannette Traverso said on Monday the prosecutors’ arguments had “fallen far below” the level needed to secure a conviction, paving the way for Mr Dewani to walk free without mounting a defence.
The ruling is a blow to the reputation of South Africa’s state prosecutors, coming after a lengthy and costly battle to extradite Mr Dewani from Britain.
Mr Dewani’s lawyers applied for his discharge at the end of the state’s case, arguing that the evidence against him was so weak he should be acquitted.
Ms Traverso agreed, giving a scathing view of key state witnesses.
She said evidence given by taxi driver Zola Tonga that implicated Mr Dewani in a murder plot was “highly improbable” while a prosecution lawyer was described as a “self-confessed liar”.
Prosecutors had accused Mr Dewani, 34, of hiring hitmen to kill his 28-year-old Swedish bride Anni on their 2010 Cape Town honeymoon in a staged hijacking because he is a gay man who felt trapped into marriage by family pressures.
Mr Dewani says he is bisexual and loved Anni.
The dead woman’s family left the court in shock. They had earlier urged the judge to make sure that Mr Dewani testified.
“Don’t let Shrien Dewani walk away without giving us, South Africa and people from all over the world the full story,” Anni Dewani’s brother Anish Hindocha said ahead of the ruling.
Ms Traverso said she had heard those calls, but had to apply the law rather than emotion.
The driver of the hijacked taxi and one of the hijackers – both serving long jail terms for the murder – testified that Mr Dewani hired them for 15,000 rand (Dh4,800) to kill his wife.
Mr Dewani’s lawyer Francois van Zyl argued that their evidence was full of contradictions and “cannot safely be relied upon”.
Mr Dewani returned to Britain within days of the murder in November 2010 and fought a three-year legal battle to avoid being extradited to South Africa, claiming he had mental health problems, including depression and post-traumatic stress.
But he was sent back to South Africa in April, where he was found fit to stand trial.* Agence France-Presse
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
