British businessman's lawyer resigns from honeymoon murder probe

By Barbara Jones
Last updated at 1:14 AM on 5th December 2010

The investigation into the murder of a woman killed on honeymoon in South Africa took a new twist yesterday with the resignation of her husband’s lawyer.

Billy Gundelfinger has announced that he is withdrawing from the case and resigning as British businessman Shrien Dewani’s representative.

The high-profile divorce and criminal lawyer said he could not disclose his reasons because of client confidentiality.

Setback: Businessman Shrien Dewani's lawyer has announced that he is resigning has his representative. Mr Dewani's wife Anni was shot dead in South Africa on November14

‘Lawyers withdraw from cases for many reasons. All I can say is that this was done amicably,’ he said.

Anni Dewani, 28, was found dead in the back of a car in a township near Cape Town on November 14 after a late-night hijack.
The driver and her husband had earlier been forced out of the vehicle. Mrs Dewani had been shot in the neck.

Mr Gundelfinger has previously spoken out strongly against suggestions that his client was refusing to help police with their inquiries, saying: ‘Mr Dewani is fully co-operating with the police.Any insinuation that he was involved is absolutely scurrilous.’

In a further development, Mrs Dewani’s father, Vinod Hindocha, 61, flew to England two days ago with his brother Ashok to deal with a matter ‘so delicate’ that he may miss his daughter’s memorial service today in Mariestad, the Swedish town where she was born.

Mrs Dewani was brought up in Sweden where she took an engineering degree. She planned to move to Bristol to live with her husband following their wedding in India.

denied any involvement in the crime. In a recent interview, he said: ‘I feel like I have been robbed of the rest of my life.’

Mrs Dewani and her father, Vinod Hindocha, who flew to England two days ago to deal with a matter 'so delicate' that he may miss his daughter's memorial service today in Mariestad, the Swedish town where she was born

Anni’s aunt Nisha Hindocha, 62, said the brothers had not told anybody the precise reason they were going but said the matter was so important that they may not return in time for Anni’s memorial service.

‘They have not answered our telephone calls. Nobody knows where they have gone – the less we know, the better it is for all of us,’ she said. ‘It was a last-minute thing. The issue is delicate. We don’t know if they’ll be back in time for the ceremony.’

Meanwhile, lawyers representing two men accused of Anni’s murder claimed that their clients were tortured and assaulted by police during questioning.

Xolile Mngeni, 23, claimed that police semi-suffocated him with a plastic bag and assaulted him. Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, told his lawyer he was kicked and beaten during interrogation.

A third defendant, the Dewanis’ taxi driver and tour guide Zola Tongo, 31, is negotiating a plea bargain. He is known to have admitted his part in a conspiracy, and sources have claimed that he has accused Shrien Dewani of taking part in a ‘set-up’ in which his wife would be robbed and killed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335797/Shrien-Dewanis-lawyer-resigns-honeymoon-murder-probe.html

COMMENT: The article is interesting but The Mail are not known for their honest reporting . The McCann case has left them with a very bad reputation for biased journalism , so anything they publish please take with a large grain of salt.