Against Dewani Tsunami
Tuesday, December 07, 2010 | Comments: 8
Max Clifford the famous publicist has reacted strongly to the news that Zola Tongo, the shuttle driver, has pinpointed his client Shrien Dewani as the party who plotted the murder of his wife Anni Dewani while they were on holiday in Cape Town, South Africa.
Along with other supporters of Dewani he has cast doubts over the version given by Tongo suggesting that they are aimed at deflecting attention away from those responsible for these crimes and in the interests of South Africa’s image.
Clifford is quoted in iAfrica as saying that his client thinks the allegation against him are "absurd and obscene" and that he is "totally innocent of the horrendous crime".
"It's horrendous enough what happened and to have this on top of it is an absolute nightmare," Clifford told Sky News. "We have got reservations about what has been given as evidence today, let's see what evidence there is to back up these accusations."
Yet it is not the actions of Tongo which has left many in the media bemused but the conduct of Dewani himself.It has been asked why a victim would hire a publicist and a high powered South African lawyer?
The reason for those questions is that a victim already has a lawyer to assist him – in fact he has many.
They are called prosecutors.
It’s the accused who hire private lawyers to represent them.
As for a publicist why would the victim of a heinous crime need to improve his image? He has the public right behind him.
Then of course there were the inconsistent versions given to the UK Sun and Daily Mail – voluntarily – which cast further doubts about Shrien’s involvement.
Add all the many other issues that don’t add up - like his being allowed out of the vehicle by the hijackers despite his being a witness, no marks on him despite the manner in which he suggests it was done and the fact that he shot out of South Africa and did not return out of his own eagerness to pinpoint the suspects - and those doubts increase even further.
Of course his persistence that the cops were going to set him up, long before today’s revelations, speaks volumes in itself.
Yet in the face of this and a mountain of other incredible conduct by his client, Clifford would suggest that there are question marks over the police and Tongo.
If Tongo were to lie to the court his plea bargain would not be worth the paper it’s written on.
Why then would he risk everything to target Shrien?
The suggestion that it is what was required in order to get a plea bargain is ludicrous in the light of reality.
Firstly plea bargains are common enough and don’t require a high profile fall guy to see them being offered or implemented.
Secondly if it was only against the remaining two accused there is no reason why the state would not have done a deal. In this instance Tongo gets 18 years and testifies while in the Brett Kebble murder trial all the shooters walked free.
A plea bargain is a far better deal for the state and it didn’t require Shrien to be implicated. It allows the state a better opportunity of wrapping up a high profile murder.
This conduct by the state is consistent with their ordinary day-to-day functioning while that of Dewani, as the media have been pointing out en masse, is not the behavior expected of victims.
What the Dewani camp are suggesting – that the state want an overseas fall guy to clean up South Africa’s image – is ridiculous.
Convicting Dewani won’t clean up South Africa’s horrendous crime statistics.
Even if he is convicted that won’t detract from the fact that three South Africans are involved.
Worse, if the state tried to concoct this arrangement and Tongo is lying to support it, the whole case would implode.
Instead of dealing with the reality the state would be trying to prove a fantasy – which they know they could not sustain - resulting in the prosecutor ending his career and the witness adding years to his sentence over a tourist murder.In order to convict Shrien Dewani who neither of them knew before now?
Every lawyer knows that the best lie is the truth. If you go with that even the kinks in the road eventually sort themselves out.
Everyone needs to understand that because people armed with the truth are able to do damage limitation while lies could be devastating to those they are trying to help.
Along with other supporters of Dewani he has cast doubts over the version given by Tongo suggesting that they are aimed at deflecting attention away from those responsible for these crimes and in the interests of South Africa’s image.
Clifford is quoted in iAfrica as saying that his client thinks the allegation against him are "absurd and obscene" and that he is "totally innocent of the horrendous crime".
"It's horrendous enough what happened and to have this on top of it is an absolute nightmare," Clifford told Sky News. "We have got reservations about what has been given as evidence today, let's see what evidence there is to back up these accusations."
Yet it is not the actions of Tongo which has left many in the media bemused but the conduct of Dewani himself.It has been asked why a victim would hire a publicist and a high powered South African lawyer?
The reason for those questions is that a victim already has a lawyer to assist him – in fact he has many.
They are called prosecutors.
It’s the accused who hire private lawyers to represent them.
As for a publicist why would the victim of a heinous crime need to improve his image? He has the public right behind him.
Then of course there were the inconsistent versions given to the UK Sun and Daily Mail – voluntarily – which cast further doubts about Shrien’s involvement.
Add all the many other issues that don’t add up - like his being allowed out of the vehicle by the hijackers despite his being a witness, no marks on him despite the manner in which he suggests it was done and the fact that he shot out of South Africa and did not return out of his own eagerness to pinpoint the suspects - and those doubts increase even further.
Of course his persistence that the cops were going to set him up, long before today’s revelations, speaks volumes in itself.
Yet in the face of this and a mountain of other incredible conduct by his client, Clifford would suggest that there are question marks over the police and Tongo.
If Tongo were to lie to the court his plea bargain would not be worth the paper it’s written on.
Why then would he risk everything to target Shrien?
The suggestion that it is what was required in order to get a plea bargain is ludicrous in the light of reality.
Firstly plea bargains are common enough and don’t require a high profile fall guy to see them being offered or implemented.
Secondly if it was only against the remaining two accused there is no reason why the state would not have done a deal. In this instance Tongo gets 18 years and testifies while in the Brett Kebble murder trial all the shooters walked free.
A plea bargain is a far better deal for the state and it didn’t require Shrien to be implicated. It allows the state a better opportunity of wrapping up a high profile murder.
This conduct by the state is consistent with their ordinary day-to-day functioning while that of Dewani, as the media have been pointing out en masse, is not the behavior expected of victims.
What the Dewani camp are suggesting – that the state want an overseas fall guy to clean up South Africa’s image – is ridiculous.
Convicting Dewani won’t clean up South Africa’s horrendous crime statistics.
Even if he is convicted that won’t detract from the fact that three South Africans are involved.
Worse, if the state tried to concoct this arrangement and Tongo is lying to support it, the whole case would implode.
Instead of dealing with the reality the state would be trying to prove a fantasy – which they know they could not sustain - resulting in the prosecutor ending his career and the witness adding years to his sentence over a tourist murder.In order to convict Shrien Dewani who neither of them knew before now?
Every lawyer knows that the best lie is the truth. If you go with that even the kinks in the road eventually sort themselves out.
Everyone needs to understand that because people armed with the truth are able to do damage limitation while lies could be devastating to those they are trying to help.
