Shrien Dewani can be extradited to South Africa, judges rules

Bristol businessman accused of ordering murder of his wife, Anni, on their honeymoon, can be extradited to stand trial

• Steven Morris, Maev Kennedy and agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 10 August 2011 13.38 BST
• Article history

Shrien Dewani's lawyers had claimed he was too unwell to stand trial in South Africa. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
Shrien Dewani can be extradited to South Africa, to face trial for organising the murder of his wife Anni on their honeymoon last year, a district court judge has ruled. District judge Howard Ridley, sitting at Belmarsh magistrates court in Woolwich, south-east London, who heard the case against him over two weeks last month rejected arguments that the Bristol businessman was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and was too unwell to be extradited, and that South African prison conditions would violate his human rights. Dewani, who has been held in a psychiatric hospital in Bristol, was considered too ill to sit in the dock to hear the case against him by the South African authorities, which claimed that he ordered the car-jacking and shooting that left his new wife, Anni, dead in the back of a taxi. His legal team argued he was too sick to return and that his human rights would be infringed if he was ordered to go to South Africa because of the terrible conditions he would face in prison. At the start of the proceedings, Hugo Keith QC, for the South African authorities, detailed the facts as the prosecutors there see them. Keith alleged Dewani had "hatched" a conspiracy to have his wife killed. He told how the Dewanis arrived in Cape Town on Friday 12 November last year. They were taken from the airport to their five-star hotel by a taxi driver, Zola Tongo, who agreed to act as their tour guide during their stay. When they arrived at the hotel, Dewani allegedly spoke to Tongo alone and asked him if knew anyone who could take a "client" of his "off the scene". Tongo, who later admitted his part in the alleged plot, claimed Dewani said he would pay 15,000 rand (£1,370) for the murder. Dewani then allegedly revealed it was Anni he wanted dead and Tongo said he set up a fake carjacking with two other men. Tongo was to drive the Dewanis to the township of Gugulethu. They would be held up by two gunmen, who would seize the car, free Tongo and Dewani, and kill Anni. Keith said the idea was to make it look like a random murder rather than a contract killing. The alleged fake carjacking took place on the night of Saturday 13 November, the court was told. Anni's body was found the next day with a single gunshot wound to the neck. There were bruises on her ankles, which indicated that she may have been manhandled, but there were no signs of a sexual assault. Keith said that from the start the South African police were puzzled and suspicious. They thought it strange that the couple had not taken the hotel's shuttle car from the airport when they arrived in Cape Town and odd that the taxi driver had taken them to a township that he must have known was dangerous. They quickly found and arrested the two gunmen and, on 20 November, Tongo handed himself in, telling the police as part of a plea bargain that the killing had allegedly been set up by Dewani. By that time Dewani had left South Africa. Keith said Tongo's story was backed by evidence including CCTV footage of the taxi driver talking to Dewani alone after they arrived at the hotel and of him receiving a plastic package from the businessman on 16 November. The South Africans say it contained payment for his part in the plot. There was one dramatic new line in the South Africans' case at the start of the extradition hearing – an alleged motive. It was claimed that Shrien Dewani had told a witness that he would be disowned by his family if he broke off the engagement with Anni. Keith said the witness claimed Dewani had told him in April 2010 – seven months before Anni was shot dead - that he was engaged to Anni. "He said although she was a nice, lovely girl whom he liked, he could not break out of the engagement because he would be disowned by his family," said Keith. "He went on to say to the witness he needed to find a way out of it." The witness did not give evidence at the extradition hearing but would be prepared to testify if Dewani was put on trial in South Africa. Dewani insists that he had nothing to do with his wife's murder and his family maintains the marriage was a happy one. The thrust of his case during the extradition has been twofold – that he was not well enough to be sent back to South Africa and that his human rights would be infringed if he were returned because of conditions in prison as he awaited trial and if he was convicted. It is accepted by both sides that he has severe post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression. Psychiatrists who treated Dewani said there was a "high risk" he would commit suicide if he was returned to South Africa. Paul Cantrell, who treats Dewani at a medium secure psychiatric hospital in Bristol, said his patient was seeing the world through a "very, very dark lens and in my view a risky lens". Travelling prompted him to "re-experience" whatever happened in South Africa. He also had "psychomotor retardation", which meant "everything is slowed down as if he is moving through jelly or mud". In addition he was "hypersensitive", jumping at every small sound, said Cantrell. The South Africans suggested that Dewani might be manipulating his mental health to avoid extradition. One claim is that he has been exercising strenuously to exacerbate a physical condition that means he has not been given anti-depressant drugs. Dewani's team denies he has deliberately made his condition worse and Cantrell said he believed he had been exercising to seek relief from his torment over his plight. The South African authorities have attempted to give assurances over where and how Dewani would be held. But experts in the South African penal system called by Dewani's lawyers said some prisons were overcrowded, understaffed and rife with diseases, including TB and HIV/Aids. There was a shortage of medical staff and sick prisoners sometimes struggled to get access to the care and medicine they needed. Gangs in prison used sexual violence to establish hierarchies and as punishments. The hearing was told that one campaign group had said it was 99.9% certain a prisoner would be abused even before arriving at jail in vans, holding cells or police stations. The hearing was told that around 450 prisoners have died in South African jails so far this year. Witnesses claimed Dewani would be particularly vulnerable to gang violence because he was accused of a "sissy" crime and because he was an outsider. His good looks and claims – denied by his family – that he is gay would also make him the target of sexual attacks. The South Africans want Dewani back and Anni's family has called for him to return to tell his story to a court. It was up to Riddle to decide if those demands take precedence over Dewani's illness and the terrible conditions he might face in a South African prison. A court in South Africa heard earlier this month that one of the men accused of carrying out the murder, Xolile Mngeni, may never face trial because he has a malignant brain tumour. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/10/shrien-dewani-can-be-extradited