Taxi driver of murdered bride strikes plea bargain with prosecutors in return for bombshell evidence
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:42 PM on 6th December 2010
The taxi driver accused of murdering a woman on honeymoon in South Africa will stand trial tomorrow after drawing up a 'plea bargain' with prosecutors.
Zola Tongo is one of three men charged with killing newlywed Anni Dewani, wife of British businessman Shrien Dewani.
The 28-year-old from Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, was shot dead after gunmen hijacked the couple's taxi on November 13 as they travelled through Gugulethu township, Cape Town.
Bombshell evidence: Police escort one of the suspects (centre, head covered) accused of killing Anni Dewani after a court appearance in Cape Town today
Police presence: The Dewanis' taxi driver Zola Tongo is due to plead guilty to offences related to her death tomorrow
He had been expected to plead guilty to four charges today before details of the bargain were read out.
This was due to include a sentence agreed by all parties.
The other two men allegedly involved in the murder - Xolile Mnguni, 23, from Khayelitsha, and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, from Khayelitsha - have also appeared at Wynberg Regional Court in Cape Town.
At the request of the Western Cape director of public prosecutions, senior counsel Rodney de Kock who represented the State, the magistrate ordered a separation of trials.
The trio face charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping, while Tonga faces an additional count of perverting the course of justice.
Mnguni and Qwabe will remain in custody until they appear in the Wynberg Regional Court again on February 25.
The pair are also due to go on trial in the Western Cape High Court at a later date.
De Kock told the court he had deliberately excluded a list of State witnesses from the indictment, copies of which have not been made available to the media.
The Dewanis had only been married for a fortnight when they were attacked.
Mrs Dewani's body was discovered in the abandoned car a day later.
Her husband, 31, was said to be in a 'dreadful state' following the carjacking and received medical assistance to help him deal with the trauma.
Plea bargain: The Dewanis' taxi driver, Zola Tongo, has said that he will reveal a new suspect in the murder case
The court may also hear that the police have circumstantial phone evidence suggesting a wider plot than revealed so far, it has been suggested.
The new came as the lawyer of Mrs Dewani husband's Shrien announced he was withdrawing from the case.
High-profile divorce and criminal lawyer Billy Gundelfinger said he could not disclose his reasons because of client confidentiality.
‘Lawyers withdraw from cases for many reasons. All I can say is that this was done amicably,’ he said.
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.’
However, a police source says the alleged abductors were not experienced with firearms and believe they have had sexual motivations.
'There is a premeditated element to this murder for sure,' said the source.
'There are telephone records between the suspects and there was certainly low-level reconnaissance.
'This was planned but not necessarily executed in a professional way. The angle of the bullet and the nature of the entry and exit wounds suggest an "accidental shot".
'One theory the prosecutors have held for some time now is that the gun went off by accident as they argued over whether or not to sexually assault their victim.'
A second police source was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying: 'The victim was in a state of partial undress. We simply cannot escape the fact that she was a beautiful woman and sexual assault was a key issue.'
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 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.
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 in Mariestad, the Swedish town where she was born
‘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.
Mr Dewani has strenuously 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.’
Mr Tongo's lawyer William da Grass, said on Friday: 'My client will make a full disclosure to unburden himself. The idea is to put his statement in the public domain when he appears in court.'
Da Grass said that if a plea bargain process was completed as planned, 'the circumstances surrounding Dewani's death will become patently clear . . . (and) will end the speculation and rumour-mongering'.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336176/Ill-new-suspect-says-honeymoon-driver-police-reveal-bride-accidentally-shot-hijackers-argued-rape.html#ixzz17LsJ8ANW
