Anni Dewani
| Anni Dewani | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Anni Ninna Hindocha 12 March 1982 Mariestad, Sweden |
| Disappeared | 13 November 2010 (aged 28) Gugulethu, South Africa 33°58′42″S 18°34′26″E / 33.97833°S 18.57389°E |
| Cause of death | Gunshot to neck |
| Body discovered | Lingelethu West, South Africa 34°03′01″S 18°39′23″E / 34.05028°S 18.65639°E |
| Residence | Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, England |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Partner(s) | Shrien Dewani |
Anni Ninna Dewani (née Hindocha; 12 March 1982 – 13 November 2010) was a Swedish woman of Indian origin who was murdered while on her honeymoon in South Africa after the taxi she and her husband were travelling in was carjacked.
Arrests were made in the days following the crime, with hijackers Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni, and hotel receptionist Monde Mbolombo admitting to their involvement in a robbery/kidnapping that went fatally wrong. Facing life in prison, Qwabe and Mbolombo subsequently changed their stories to allege that the crime had instead been a premeditated "murder for hire" at the alleged behest of Anni's husband Shrien Dewani. Taxi driver Zola Tongo initially claimed to be an innocent victim of the carjacking but faced with the weight of evidence implicating him in the crime and in the wake of his fellow conspirators' allegations of a "murder for hire" plot, he too changed his story to allege that the husband was the instigator. Attractive plea bargains were offered to the conspirators in exchange for future testimony in legal proceedings related to the crime. The allegation of the husband's involvement made global headlines, with his supporters emphatically denying the accusations saying that it was "ludicrous" to suggest that he had solicited a hit on his wife within hours of arriving in Cape Town, from the first taxi driver he met.
Zola Tongo pleaded guilty to murder in December 2010 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Mziwamadoda Qwabe pleaded guilty to murder in August 2012 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Xolile Mngeni was tried and convicted of murder in November 2012, and was sentenced to life in prison. Monde Mbolombo admitted involvement, but was offered immunity in exchange for testimony against the other conspirators alleged to have been involved in the crime.
South African prosecutors formulated charges against Anni's husband Shrien Dewani, based on the later discredited confessions of Tongo, Qwabe and Mbolombo, who were found to have committed perjury. Charges were brought on the basis that Anni had been the victim of a premeditated kidnapping and murder for hire, that was staged to appear as a random carjacking, at the alleged behest of her husband. Following a long legal battle, Shrien was extradited from the UK to South Africa to face trial. He was exonerated by a Western Cape High Court ruling in December 2014 that there was no credible evidence to support the allegations against him, nor to support the allegation that the crime was a premeditated murder for hire.
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Wikipedia