The Honeymoon Murder: The Case Of Anni Dewani

I'm also very grateful for the many messages of sympathy from all over the world, from British people, from South Africans. This case is not about Syrian and the three accused; it's about my beautiful daughter and me, not forgetting her. I'm sure she'll be very, very happy today to hear what we got for the decision. As a father, I demand justice against whoever is involved in this, and I wish, I wish I get that justice.

I wish Syrian a very speedy recovery from his illness so that he can now go to Cape Town and help the police and clear his name, as he says. Twenty-eight-year-old Annie Nina Hindocha was born to Vinod and Nilam in Sweden. Her family were originally from Uganda, but they had been forced to leave in the early 1970s after the country's president, Idi Amin, gave all Ugandans of South Asian descent 90 days to leave the country. The family were granted residents in Sweden and settled in Maristad before Annie was born. Annie had two siblings, a sister named Amy and a brother, Anish. Annie's father, Vinod, thrived in Sweden after starting a successful business, and the family were very settled.

[Music] Intelligent, ambitious, and confident, Vinod said he knew he spoiled her, but he couldn't help himself. Annie's cousin said she was like the leader of the pack and the glue of the family. After graduating from university, Annie moved to Stockholm to work in marketing for the mobile phone maker Ericsson. As she reached her mid-twenties, she was looking to settle down and hoping to find her husband. She adored her sister's children and was keen to start a family of her own. She regularly flew to London and would spend her time shopping, socializing, and making contacts. It wouldn't be long before she met 30-year-old Shri and Iwani from Bristol. He was well respected and successful, working in his family's nursing home business, and was already a millionaire before the age of 30.

One of Annie's aunts had seen him around and thought the match between him and her niece would be perfect. She arranged for the pair to meet at a coffee shop, and his sister said that although Annie didn't seem to like him straight away, after the second date she had warmed to him. Sharian had been engaged previously, but the wedding was called off due to what was described as petty family disagreements. Sri and Annie had very similar lives, with Shrian's parents also fleeing Uganda for the same reason Annie's had. People had differing opinions of Srian. Some said they found him to be quite arrogant, someone that loved to show off his wealth, but others said that beneath all that, he was actually very kind and generous. Annie's sister said that Annie would always talk about how much she liked Sharia's sense of humor and the way he made her feel protected. As the couple entered into a long-distance relationship, taking it in turns to visit each other, they began finding things tough. Friends said they were both very headstrong and often argued, presumably about the distance. At one point, Annie called time on the relationship, but they eventually patched things up, with Annie giving up her job in Stockholm and moving into an apartment in Luton so that the couple could be closer. Her parents soon flew over to meet Shrien's family. Then I'd record feeling a bit intimidated by the wealth of the Dewani family but said they were very welcoming and warm. Vinod said that everyone had really liked Srian. He was polite, educated, and driven, and the couple seemed to have a great connection. Annie told her dad that Shreyan did not believe in sex before marriage, something Vinod said showed dedication to his religion and Annie as his future wife. After the visit was over and both parents had approved of the couple and the families, Annie and Sharon made plans to marry in October 2010.

Hundreds of guests gathered just outside of Mumbai to celebrate the three-day wedding of Sri Andewani and Annie Hinduja. It was a truly exquisite event, and Annie had spent three months in India planning it. Vinod said that although his family were not wealthy like the Dewanis, he had been saving for his children's wedding since they were born and wanted to give Annie everything she had dreamed of. As picture-perfect as the wedding had seemed, some of Annie's close friends recalled feeling weird about it, with one of her friends saying it didn't feel like Annie was very present and someone else referring to the wedding as a strange experience that didn't feel like the friend she knew. The three-day event would soon be over, and Shri and Annie Dewani would be heading off for their honeymoon. Three weeks after their gorgeous wedding, the couple headed to South Africa on their 10-day honeymoon. Annie had no idea where they were going, and the whole thing had been planned by Srian. He had told people he chose South Africa because it was an S for Srian and an A for Annie. After a busy and eventful few days, they arrived at Cape Town International Airport from Johannesburg on Friday, November 12th. Shreem was looking to flag down a taxi instead of using the hotel's dedicated car service. He opted for the local shuttle service at a cheaper rate. A driver named Zola Tongo pulled over in a Volkswagen minivan, and the couple began the 20-minute drive to their lavish waterfront hotel called Cape Grace. Before Zola dropped the Dewanis at their hotel, Shri and asked Tongo to wait for him so he could make plans for him to pick them up the following night for dinner. Sharing said he wanted Tongo to show the couple around Cape Town as well, and Tongo agreed to act almost as an unofficial tour guide for the pair the following day. Before the couple were picked up by Tongo, they spent time at the bar having some drinks and taking pictures.

[Music] Shereen had reserved a table at 96 Winery Road, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the area. Tongo picked the couple up at about 7:30 p.m. [Music] But on the way to the restaurant, Shri and Annie decided they weren't in the mood for a big meal and wanted something lighter. Tongo said he knew the right area and would take them there. He pulled off the highway just before 9 p.m. and eventually dropped them off at the Surfside Restaurant in Strand. [Music] They stayed for only a short time before Tongo picked them up at around 10:30 p.m. Sri and said Annie was keen to see the raw and real culture of some parts of South Africa, especially the nightlife of the townships. He said she insisted that Tongo drive around and show them what it was like. The three drove into the township of Guguletu. To this day, Guguletu has an extremely high crime rate, and people that live there say it's rare to ever leave your homes after dark, let alone have tourists that visit. Over 700 people were murdered in Guguletu between 2005 and 2010, which amounts to one murder every two and a half days for five consecutive years. The police said they themselves wouldn't even travel into some of the townships without being in a big group. At 10:45, Tongo stopped the car at an intersection, and out of nowhere, two men rushed the vehicle and started banging on the windows, holding guns. The men got into the car, eventually forcing Tongo out. They began driving around for almost an hour, with the couple holding each other in the back seat, terrified. They took Shreen's watch and phone and Annie's jewelry. Eventually, the car stopped. The man who was driving said they didn't want to hurt the couple and they would let them go, but separately. Shreem was then thrown out onto the road, and the gun-wielding men sped off into the night with a hysterical Annie in the back seat. At 10:30 p.m., a man opened his door to find Shreen standing in front of him, crying and asking if there was anywhere near he could report a carjacking. He had been stumbling up and down the road, knocking on doors, moving from one home to the next in the dark. The man said he asked him for details, but Shereen was hazy and too distraught to remember a lot. The police arrived shortly after and took Srian back to the location it had happened in, driving around tryi...

for the mobile phone maker ericsson as she reached her mid-twenties she was looking to settle down and hoping to find her husband she adored her sister's children and was keen to start a family of her own she regularly flew to london and would

spend her time shopping socialising and making contacts it wouldn't be long before she met 30 year old shri and iwani from bristol he was well respected and successful working in his family's nursing home business and was already a millionaire

before the age of 30. one of annie's aunts had seen him around and thought the match between he and her niece would be perfect she arranged for the pair to meet at a coffee shop and his sister said that

although annie didn't seem to like him straight away after the second date she had warmed to him sharian had been engaged previously but the wedding was called off due to what was described as petty family disagreements sri and and annie had very similar lives

with shrian's parents also fleeing uganda for the same reason annie's had people had differing opinions of srian some said they found him to be quite arrogant someone that loved to show off his wealth but others said that beneath

all that he was actually very kind and generous annie's sister said that annie would always talk about how much she liked sharia's sense of humor and the way he made her feel protected as the couple entered into a

long-distance relationship taking it in turns to visit each other they began finding things tough friends said they were both very headstrong and often argued presumably about the distance at one point annie called time on the relationship but they eventually patched

things up with annie giving up her job in stockholm and moving into an apartment in luton so that the couple could be closer her parents soon flew over to meet shrien's family then i'd record feeling a bit intimidated by the wealth of the

dewani family but said they were very welcoming and warm vinod said that everyone had really liked srian he was polite educated and driven and the couple seemed to have a great connection annie told her dad that shreyan did not

believe in sex before marriage something vinod said showed dedication to his religion and annie as his future wife after the visit was over and both parents had approved of the couple and the families annie and sharon made plans

to marry in october 2010 hundreds of guests gathered just outside of mumbai to celebrate the three-day wedding of sri andewani and annie hinduja it was a truly exquisite event and annie had spent three months in india planning it

vinod said that although his family were not wealthy like the duwanis he had been saving for his children's wedding since they were born and wanted to give annie everything she had dreamed of as picture-perfect as the wedding had

seemed some of annie's close friends recalled feeling weird about it with one of her friends saying it didn't feel like annie was very present and someone else referring to the wedding as a strange experience that didn't feel like the friend she knew the

three-day event would soon be over and shri and annie duwani would be heading off for their honeymoon three weeks after their gorgeous wedding the couple headed to south africa on their 10-day honeymoon annie had no idea where they were going and the whole

thing had been planned by srian he had told people he chose south africa because it was an s for srian and an a for annie after a busy and eventful few days they arrived at cape town international airport from johannesburg on friday

november 12th shreem was looking to flag down a taxi instead of using the hotel's dedicated car service he opted for the local shuttle service at a cheaper rate a driver named zola tongo pulled over in a volkswagen minivan and the couple

began the 20-minute drive to their lavish waterfront hotel called cape grace before zola dropped the duwanis at their hotel shri and asked tongo to wait for him so he could make plans for him to pick them up the following night for

dinner sharing said he wanted tongo to show the couple around cape town as well and tongo agreed to act almost as an unofficial tour guide for the pair the following day before the couple were picked up by tongo they spent time at

the bar having some drinks and taking pictures [Music] shereen had reserved a table at 96 winery road one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the area tongo picked the couple up at about 7 30 p.m [Music] but on the way to the restaurant shri

and annie decided they weren't in the mood for a big meal and wanted something lighter tongo said he knew the right area and would take them there he pulled off the highway just before 9pm and eventually dropped them off at

the surfside restaurant in strand [Music] they stayed for only a short time before tongo picked them up at around 10 30 p.m sri and said annie was keen to see the raw and real culture of some parts of

south africa especially the nightlife of the townships he said she insisted that tongo drive around and show them what it was like the three drove into the township of guguletu to this day gugletto has an extremely high crime rate and people that live

there say it's rare to ever leave your homes after dark let alone have tourists that visit over 700 people were murdered in gugulettu between 2005 and 2010 which amounts to one murder every two and a half days for five consecutive years

the police said they themselves wouldn't even travel into some of the townships without being in a big group at 10 45 tongo stopped the car at an intersection and out of nowhere two men rushed the vehicle and started banging

on the windows holding guns the men got into the car eventually forcing tongo out they began driving around for almost an hour with the couple holding each other in the back seat terrified they took shreen's watch and phone and annie's jewellery

eventually the car stopped the man who was driving said they didn't want to hurt the couple and they would let them go but separately shreem was then thrown out onto the road and the gun wielding men sped off into the night with a

hysterical annie in the back seat at 10 30 p.m a man opened his door to find shreen standing in front of him crying and asking if there was anywhere near he could report a carjacking he had been stumbling up and down the

road knocking on doors moving from one home to the next in the dark the man said he asked him for details but shereen was hazy and too distraught to remember a lot the police arrived shortly after and took srian back to the location it had

happened in driving around trying to piece everything together they also quickly located the taxi driver zola tongo who had reported the carjacking as well and everyone headed back to the cape grace hotel together the hotel manager spoke with both sri

and antongo he commented how odd it was to be staying in a hotel as glamorous as the cape grace on your honeymoon and be wanting to travel through dangerous townships like googler 2 in the middle of the night

shortly after vinod got a call off prakesh duwani back in bristol saying that annie had been kidnapped vinnod was confident they could pay the kidnappers whatever they wanted and save his daughter after this he would then answer the phone again

this time to srian telling him how sorry he was he was unable to protect annie vinod booked the first flight out early the following morning police received a call from a resident living in a neighborhood in kailicha about a

20-minute drive from google too they reported that a grey volkswagen minivan had been sitting alongside the road all night at 8 am the police got to the vehicle lying across the back seat was the body of annie dawani

she had been shot once at point-blank range in the neck and the bullet was lodged in the seats she had some bruises on her body and the coroner confirmed that she would have bled to death tragically her father would hear of this

as he was boarding his connecting flight from amsterdam he said he spent the journey feeling totally numb he met sri on the following day at the cape grace hotel one of the officers that arrived at the scene that morning said he knew right

away this would not be a straightforward case something felt strange and didn't sit right with him he said that tongo would have known the area well well enough to know the dangers at least and probably enough that he would have most likely been able

to identify the two men you wouldn't drive tourists around there during the day let alone at night so why did you the officers asked she insisted tongo said but annie's sister said she simply didn't believe annie would have wanted

to do that and was well aware of the potential dangers they could face the officer questioning tongo wondered why the men let both he and srian leave alive and unharmed knowing they would likely go straight to the police and

identify them and then they proceed with annie by herself and she gets shots that to me just doesn't gel he recalled the murder of annie duwani was shocking and the residents of cape town in south africa as a whole said despite the crime

rates this was still an appalling and awful case by anyone standards annie's story took up vast amounts of space in the news and had immense media coverage from all over the world a honeymoon for a british couple has ended in tragedy

just hours after the holiday began in cape town this morning the body of a 28 year old woman was found in a car in kailicha she and the 28 year old woman was traveling with her authorities threw a huge amount of time

and resources at the case keen to solve something that had become such big news so quickly zolotongo was initially very helpful with police and was keen to answer their questions the case was moving at a rapid pace and

the two men that had hijacked the vehicle were quickly located prince found in and on the card took police straight to a man named khalil mengeni he'd been arrested several years earlier and his prince had remained on file he

was apprehended in his home and while police were searching around they found a phone that had been wedged in between the mattress in the bed frame when they asked who this belonged to mengeni said it belonged to the taxi driver zola

tongo mengeni confessed to his involvement almost immediately he told police that the third man they were looking for was 26 year old zwama doda kwabe cuave was found two days later and by this time shreen had already flown back to the uk

while cuerbe was being questioned he threw a third and new name into the mix mondo malombo a receptionist at another hotel as cuabe was leaving one of his interviews monday was being brought in as he passed him kwabby asked police if

he could speak to him but that he would say it in english he said tell them everything police would soon make another announcement the 31 year old taxi driver who had been so helpful and forthcoming with detectives had also been arrested in

connection with the murder of annie dawani zola tongo's friend said it came as a total shock to them he had no criminal record and had always been so responsible in law law-abiding they said something like this was hard

to believe but sri and told a reporter he had actually suspected that tongo was involved so the arrest didn't come as a complete shock as the media firestorm raged on annie was finally laid to rest fifteen hundred people would gather in a

concert hall in london for annie's memorial service and her ashes would later be scattered in her favorite area of the vanun lake which was close to her hometown in sweden [Music] the police's investigation continued and to their surprise

zola tongo would make a claim so strong and startling that it would turn the investigation completely on its head tongo was escorted into windberg magistrates courts his face hidden by a sheet it had been announced that he was likely

to enter a plea bargain and receive a more lenient sentence in exchange for more information about the case tongo claimed that this was no random attack and he wanted to tell the whole truth about what had really happened

that night he alleged that it had in fact been annie's husband srian that had orchestrated the entire crime and put together the plan to kill his new bride he said that the day he picked sharian and ali up from the airport shreen hung

back to talk to him while annie went inside according to the cctv srin spent almost 10 minutes talking to tongo in the car what shrien allegedly said was that he wanted someone taken off the scene tongo said to shreem that he was not the

man for the job but that he knew someone that could facilitate his request he said that srian offered fifteen thousand rand the equivalent of less than one thousand pounds at the time to carry out the alleged hits the police said that tongo's claims

appeared to be backed up by the copious amounts of cctv footage but others said that the cctv backed up sri inside of the story and version of events too tongo said that after he drove away he headed to the hotel that monday worked

at [Music] and it was here that monday contacted cuabae and the plan was set in motion phone records showed monday repeatedly trying to get hold of quabe antongo the cctv in the hotel monday worked at had audio as well and during one of the

calls he said it's that thing we were talking about it must happen today um yeah tonga said that he had met shreen just before noon on the day of the murder so that srien could get his money converted

tongo drove him to the place with a lower conversion rate than the hotel vinod said he rang to get hold of annie but srian answered the phone and said he was in fact at the market changing some money over

vinod thought nothing of it and just asked that she called him back later tongo professed that shreem took him aside outside the surfside restaurant on the night of the murder and wanted to know if he had arranged for the guys

tongo confirmed that everything had been arranged as they began to drive into googler too tongo said that he and srian exchanged several text messages it was alleged that srina told him the cache was in an envelope in a pouch

behind the front seat police said that the texts and calls between the pair were corroborated by cell phone data analysis but because shreen's phone was never located the contents of the messages will probably never be known it was a media frenzy and nobody knew

what to think if this plea deal was to go ahead it meant that annie's family had to be consulted and they were faced with a difficult and gut-wrenching decision but her family all ultimately agreed for tongo to accept it

and as confused and devastated as they were they said they just wanted the truth about what had happened to annie the amount of public attention that annie's case was getting was even more clear to see when the court cases

started the story was huge and getting more surreal by the day shereen and his family vehemently denied all the claims saying it was completely ridiculous and lacked any evidence at all sharian's lawyers two of the most powerful and successful in the country

said that it just seemed incomprehensible that he would have asked the first person he met in cape town to carry out a hit on his wife and it just made no sense for the state to be suggesting it they said the evidence

didn't actually prove anything a little over a month after annie had been killed zola tongo was jailed for 18 years after making a plea agreement monday inquire base soon followed suits and would both start pointing the finger at tree and dewani too

cuabo would also be offered a reduced sentence which he would accept in exchange for a guilty plea and his promise of a testimony against srian and any other criminal proceedings related to the crime he was subsequently jailed for 25 years

mengeni was not offered any kind of deal and he would later plead not guilty in court authorities said there was no point in offering him a plea deal because he couldn't have taken them any further with the case than anyone else involved

mangeni had his trial pushed back as he underwent surgery for a brain tumour but he was ultimately convicted and sentenced to life in prison it is difficult to imagine the absolute terror [Music] that she must have endured when she

stared down the battle of the gun although from a relatively poor background did not commit this offense due to poverty always dire socio-economic circumstances this crime was perpetrated out of pure greed it was very difficult to digest that

but at the same time [Music] one glimpse of happiness was that he never said at any point that my daughter was abused and that was something we really can live one the full picture will only immerse when shreen comes down to captain

lawyers for both kwabe and mengeni said their clients had been abused even tortured by the police because authorities were so pressured to solve such a high-profile case the police denied all the allegations hotel receptionist monday admitted to his involvement but he was granted full

immunity from prosecution in exchange for his promise of a truthful testimony against srian something which left many shocked considering he had been the one to make the call to kwabe and arrange the hit monday said i want to state it here that

mr dewani is lying he knows everything from the beginning to the end shreem would soon find himself arrested in bristol on suspicion of conspiring to murder annie and south african authorities were now fighting to extradite him but despite what the men were saying

there still didn't appear to be any motive people said he wouldn't have gained anything from annie's death financially as there was no life insurance policy and by all accounts there didn't appear to be any issues within the couple's

relationship but an interview with the sun newspaper was later published which gave the south african police a potential motive if srian was involved anonymous emails have been sent to the sun suggesting that srian was gay and people alleged that he had been paying a

male prostitute for sex his name was leopold laser and was known to his clients as the german master leopold told the son that shrine had confided in him that he was in a relationship that he needed to get out of

shereen and his family had maintained that this was all nonsense and said that he was blissfully happy with his new bride i just married the girl of my dreams he said why would i want to kill her but police began speculating that

perhaps annie had found out during the honeymoon that srien was keeping this potential secret about his sexuality and this is what sparked the later events one of the leading investigators said it had become the most publicized most in

your face case he'd seen in his 36 years on the job although venod fiercely fought back against anyone that suggested his son-in-law may have been involved he later revealed that over time things had began to eat away at him more and more i

have spoken with my son-in-law and there are far more questions than answers he said many south african reporters and journalists agreed and said that although the crime rate in the area was high something just didn't add up one

reporter said that this was not a typical crime far from it and a big red flag had been that the car was just left there rather than being burnt or sold on vinod said srian would often give varying accounts of what happened that

night different times and different orders of events one example being that shrine had told authorities quabe and mengeni had taken all of annie's jewellery but after annie was found he phoned an officer to ask him to check his seam in the back seat

of the car he said he would find annie's 25 000 pound engagement ring in there and sure enough there it was when he was asked why this wasn't in his original statement sharian said he was in shock at the time and now he wanted

to amend the statements he had made shereen had also thrown a pizza party the night before annie's funeral which vinod said he found to be highly inappropriate and disrespectful annie's family recalled that shreen was furious that they had gathered to say

goodbye to annie before she was laid to rest and was very rough with her body when trying to dress her something annie's cousin said made her extremely uncomfortable her cousin also said that the letters and flowers the family had left with

annie's body ended up on the floor when she grabbed them and threw them down sri and later apologized to the family and admitted he shouldn't have acted in that way the duwani family hired max clifford to handle the overwhelming amount of

attention from the press max clifford was a well-known london press agent who had represented celebrities such as muhammad ali marvin gaye and marlon brando once well respected and sought after in the world of pr he had a huge

fall from grace in 2014 he was sentenced to eight years in prison after being found guilty of a string of indecent assaults against young girls he would later die in prison after suffering a heart attack while he was handling srin's case

shreyan's brother praying demanded that annie's family sign an agreement that said they would not say anything to the media without consulting max clifford first vinod refused shreem was sent to the priory hospital in bristol and was said to be suffering

from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder max clifford said that shereen had lost 28 pounds since his wife's death and was getting weaker and weaker and weaker shortly after he was detained under the mental health act i was speaking to annie davani's family

who live in sweden but they feel that the four people who are in the car apart from that is annie all have questions to answer now three of them have been found guilty by the south african courts they now want shri

and davani to turn up he is of course facing uh fighting a legal battle against being extradited from britain to south africa his psychiatrists say he's too ill to stand trial at the moment he says he's suffering from from post-traumatic

stress syndrome and depression following the death of his new bride and also he feels he won't get a a fair trial here in south africa but annie divani's family uh are absolutely insistent he will get a fair trial they

say they just want to hear the truth and they've urged sri and vani to give up the fight and to allow himself to be extradited to face trial and answer some questions here in south africa the extradition hearing of shrine dewani

wanted in south africa for questioning about the murder of his wife has hurt claims and counterclaims over how he'll be treated in prison if he is returned there i had a family once upon a time six months ago

which was different than what i have today why for the past three days the hindutcha family who've traveled from sweden have sat through an extradition hearing at woolwich crown court the south african authorities want shreen davani annie's new husband to stand

trial over the alleged contract killing of his bride in a cape town township last november much of the extradition hearing is centered on whether south african jails are dangerous brutal places on whether sreen divani would survive if he was

sent there and as far as the hinduja family is concerned this herring should not be happening at all if he says he's not he is not involved in anything he should proudly go probably go to south africa say i didn't

do it here i am give me just give me a try due to his mental health issues shreem's extradition hearings were pushed back and put off for a long time but they finally began at belmar magistrates court in london

annie's uncle said we don't understand why srian doesn't simply get on a plane and go and tell his side of the story and his brother said we are just focusing on this case at the moment and it is hard to even start making the

grieving process final yet because there are so many questions we need answers to the home secretary and later prime minister of the united kingdom theresa may signed an order for srian to be extradited to south africa to say that we as a family are satisfied

with the decision today made by the british justice system um but it's still a long way to the answers that we are looking for and we don't want to forget any in this it's for us it's all about annie

it's all about finding out what happened to her um and we will fight this battle to the end and this battle has just begun for us sharia entered a plea of not guilty to all five charges brought against him and

the trial would be set this is the moment that shireen duwani the millionaire businessman based in bristol began his involuntary acquaintance with south african justice four years after being accused of plotting the murder of his newlywed 28 year old wife annie on their honeymoon

in cape town shireen pleaded not guilty to the five charges against him but he also surprised the court through his lawyer he went on to say that he was bisexual that he'd had encounters with male prostitutes and he

had abnormally low hormone levels which meant it was unlikely that he could ever have children the prosecution is expected to argue that the murder was linked to a sham marriage meant to hide mr duane's true sexual identity in his defense statement shireen dewani

admitted their relationship was turbulent an email from shireen to annie durrani written before their wedding was read out in court if you really think being with me is not going to make you happy then this is not right for you i really hope that that is

not what you are saying but i don't want to feel like i forced you into something on the first day of his trial the court heard more about his sexuality and in a written statement read out by his

lawyers sharian said that despite his previous denials he was actually bisexual annie's family spoke of their disappointment of not knowing this about him and said they were prepared to sue him for not being honest with them a list of omissions released by the

court also showed that srin had been looking at gay porn and dating websites on the honeymoon and just hours after annie's body was found the prosecution said that this combined with the statements from the german master leopold and several others clearly

showed that shrine was conflicted and desperate to hide a big part of his life they argued that this wasn't about his sexuality per se rather it was about the conversations in which he had disclosed his desire to get out of the marriage

duwani tried hard to fight back his tears but broke down in the dark as this footage was shown his lawyer francia van sale says this show of affection contradicts the state's allegation that diwani plotted his wife's murder hendrickson hit back saying dewani's

intentions may seem what he calls nice to the naked eye but he says diwani withheld crucial information including telephony communication with shuttle driver zola tongo on that evening he says this adds something sinister to diwani's version judge jeanette traverso

listened to both sides and ultimately ruled that the evidence about sharing sexuality was inadmissible more witnesses came forward on behalf of the prosecution and said that srina nani's relationship no matter how perfect it might have looked was far from it

annie's cousin recalled that annie had spoken to her just after the wedding and expressed her worry about whether a big mistake had been made and marrying him annie sent numerous text messages to her cousins saying things like hate him

and fighting a lot with srian told him i'm going home wish i had never got engaged a particularly sad one read crying has become my new hobby just one day into the honeymoon annie sent another message saying really

trying he's a really good guy in all ways but i don't feel happy with him at all others said any disagreements the pair had were totally normal and very trivial and it's possible the stress of planning such a big wedding had left annie tired

and feeling more emotional the state's star witness was zola tongo and police and prosecution said that the entire case rested on his testimony he was the only person that could testify to the alleged conspiracy having been the only one to speak with srian a lot

of cctv footage was shown to the court one clip showed tongo and sri and talking in the hotel lobby just a day after annie was killed [Music] one of the cleaners could be seen in the frame as well

shrien talks to the cleaner for a second and tongo said that this conversation was shreen asking him to give the person privacy after the cleaner leaves shreen allegedly asked tongo if the job had been done tongo said he warned shreen that there

was a camera right above them sharian looks up and stares at the camera for a second before looking away shereen said that this was a totally innocent conversation more footage was played out it showed tree and tongo meeting in the

hotel again srian who had been sat with vinod in one of the rooms can be seen carrying some sort of white envelope or package tongo follows him to another room away from vinnard and other guests and then leaves with the same package

srian then returns empty-handed and tongo leaves the hotel and heads back to his car the state said they believed this was the money that had been promised for the hit but srian's lawyers said that the money was simply for his services as a

driver some said this made total sense others questioned if this was the case why did the exchange of money take place in a private area off-camera and away from annie's father taxi driver and convicted murderer zola tongo has branded shireen dewani as a

liar tonga concluded his testimony against the british businessman in the western cape high court today he spent seven days on the witness stand five of them under grueling cross-examination shrienderwani's version of events leading to the november 2010 murder of

his wife annie has been described as nonsense and lies tongue is the man who fingered him as the mastermind behind his wife's murder defense counsel francois van sale today continued his barrage of questions tongue remained adamant that devaney

offered 15 000 rand to have his wife killed the british businessman has denied all charges against him including murder tongo also described as a lie the defense's assertion that a fellow prisoner would testify that tongue told him he was advised to frame devani for

the murder tongo's version in court and what he had told police in his affidavit in november 2010 also came under fire from the defense tonga was initially very confident on the stand but when it came time for the

defense's cross-examination his version of events started to change his story was showing more and more contradictions at one point he claimed the police must have added things into his statements without him knowing which was why he was getting confused tongo

monday and cuabae were all found to have committed perjury when their testimonies show differing versions and they admitted to not telling the truth in parts of their affidavits this threw everything about the already confusing case into question once more

one can understand a witness contradicting himself in certain regards or maybe even not saying exactly what he said in his witness statement to the police initially but if these differences are are serious and are material then it has a major impact on

their reliability and credibility at the end of the day and the judgment the defense's case was getting stronger by the day as the state's case and their star witness began to crumble on the 23rd day of shrine's trial his lawyers

requested that the judge throw out the case on the basis that they deemed it to be massively flawed this was all before srian had even taken to the stand himself four years after the murder of annie dawani judge jeanette traverso

gave a statement she came down hard on the prosecution and criticized their case against srian she said that the statements of the key witnesses were full of contradictions and ordered that sri and iwani be found not guilty [Music]

in my view the evidence presented in this case falls far below this threshold in the circumstances i make the following order the application in terms of section 174 of the criminal procedure act is granted the account accused is

found not guilty and discharged and mr malombo is granted indemnity is not granted indemnity from prosecution court religion it has not been possible to connect your call please try again later if he's not guilty then good luck to him

he should be coming home he should be allowed to come home but if he has in any way in his mind i was complicit in this then he should stay there what sort of welcome back will he get

i don't know really i shouldn't think it's going to be a great one because you know it carries a lot of feeling and this was a very very very sad and very tragic case very sad well it's gonna be very tough for the

annie's family but he's been found innocent so you know you have to go by what the law states and i believe you know if he's coming home right and proper thing srin said it is the evidence of these

proven liars that led to a witch hunt against me and the resulting failure to pursue the truth of what happened that night [Music] annie's family were devastated they said they felt they had been let down by the justice system and that annie had been

let down too after sharia's exoneration annie's family asked for the coroner's quarter in the uk to reopen the inquest into her death which would compel srian to publicly answer questions coroner andrew walker said there was insufficient cause to start an inquest

and he was prohibited from reaching a conclusion that was inconsistent with the findings of the south african courts a formal complaint was lodged against judge traverso amid allegations of bias with many feeling that srian should have been made to take the stand and give

evidence she would later be cleared of these claims mengeni who was still suffering from a brain tumour eventually died in prison now in breaking news convicted honeymoon murderer kolilym genie has died ngeni is the only south african to go on trial

for the murder of annie duwani in guguletu in 2010. he was 27 years old during his trial the following year the court heard that he had a life expectancy of only five years correctional services officials said there was nothing more doctors could do

for him leopold laser the man that had told the papers about his secret relationship with srian was said to have been suffering from tremendous stress due to the court case sadly in 2016 he took his own life according to news reports as of 2018 sri

was still living in the uk with his boyfriend of about 18 months at the time in 2021 after serving half his sentence zola tongo was up for parole and his father and uncle went to speak with him in prison before his scheduled release

they said they showed him a picture of annie and he was emotionless unaware of who it was when they explained who she was he started crying both men said that they weren't satisfied that it was genuine emotion and that he didn't feel remorseful for

what he had done only that he was a very good actor his parole was then withdrawn a day before his release the murder of annie duwani is a polarizing case and one that continues to haunt her family many think that it was a completely

random carjacking that either intentionally or unintentionally ended in murder everything that happened in between is purely coincidental and anything seemingly pointing towards srian is unjust unfair and lacks evidence some think that it was planned but by zola tongo when he saw the glamorous

couple with their expensive luggage and belongings he saw an opportunity to kidnap annie and use her as part of an extortion plan that ended up going horribly wrong but others believe that sri and masterminded the whole operation and got

away with an atrocious crime annie's family and friends are still seeking answers and things only get tougher for them the more that time passes annie's uncle said still today we don't know exactly what happened that brings a lot of uncertainty

guessing what happened and knowing what happened are two different things we want to know what happened the conflicting stories and accounts from so many means the full truth of what happened that night how it came to be and what if any connection the five men

had on that fateful night back in 2010 will likely never be known [Music] you