A South African man has been sentenced to life imprisonment after he admitted paying two men £2,880 to fake a carjacking and murder his wife.
Rajive Sewnarain and his wife Shanaaz on their wedding day
Rajive Sewnarain, 42, told the men he arranged to ambush his car on December 10 in the coastal city of Durban to shoot him in the shoulder to make the attack appear more realistic.
He was pushed out of the car moments before the hitman he hired shot his wife Shanaaz, the mother of their two children, twice in the chest and once in the neck.
The case bears considerable similarities to what police say happened in the murder of Swedish honeymooner Anni Dewani in an apparent carjack in Cape Town last month.
Miss Dewani's husband Shrien told police he was forced out of the car unharmed by two ambushers who went on to shoot his wife dead. Police are investigating allegations that Mr Dewani paid two men and his taxi driver £1,400 to murder his wife.
This week prosecutors submitted a formal request to the South African Justice Department for Bristol businessman Mr Dewani – who denies any involvement – to return to the country from Britain.
Mthunzi Mhaga, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, said it was "very confident" that the British authorities will accede to the request.
"We believe that in time we will have him here as an accused," he said.
According to detectives who investigated the Durban case, Mr Sewnarain, a truck repair company owner, admitted he had arranged his wife's murder after they confronted him about inconsistencies in his story.
He told them that he and his wife had a volatile 20-year marriage that was fraught with arguments. He said that when he was told by a man named only as Boxer that he could help him "take his wife out of his life", he agreed and paid him R30 000 (£2,880).
"He told me that I should take my wife to buy pizza and then drive to my workplace and give him a missed call," he said.
"I would then drive down the road and, at an arranged spot, someone would jump into the car and this person would carry out the hit."
On December 10, Sawnarain drove to the spot where the hitman duly jumped into the car.
"The man advised my wife and I that we were being hijacked and instructed me to drive towards Isipingo (a town south of Durban)," he said.
"While I was driving, the man fired a shot at my wife. He directed me to drive to an isolated area where he shot me and pushed me out of the car."
Police found Shanaaz's body in the back of the car the same night; she had been shot twice in the chest and once in the neck. Under pressure from police, Sewnarain admitted his role within hours.
Sentencing him to life imprisonment, magistrate Sharon Marks told him he had betrayed his wife's trust in the cruelest way.
"You deprived your children of their mother," she said. "You had many remedies to get rid of your spouse such as divorce or separation. This type of murder invokes the indignation of the public and requires a sentence which will ensure they do not take the law into their hands."
Sewnarain's two accomplices have also been arrested and are due before the courts imminently.
"We believe that in time we will have him here as an accused," he said.
According to detectives who investigated the Durban case, Mr Sewnarain, a truck repair company owner, admitted he had arranged his wife's murder after they confronted him about inconsistencies in his story.
He told them that he and his wife had a volatile 20-year marriage that was fraught with arguments. He said that when he was told by a man named only as Boxer that he could help him "take his wife out of his life", he agreed and paid him R30 000 (£2,880).
"He told me that I should take my wife to buy pizza and then drive to my workplace and give him a missed call," he said.
"I would then drive down the road and, at an arranged spot, someone would jump into the car and this person would carry out the hit."
On December 10, Sawnarain drove to the spot where the hitman duly jumped into the car.
"The man advised my wife and I that we were being hijacked and instructed me to drive towards Isipingo (a town south of Durban)," he said.
"While I was driving, the man fired a shot at my wife. He directed me to drive to an isolated area where he shot me and pushed me out of the car."
Police found Shanaaz's body in the back of the car the same night; she had been shot twice in the chest and once in the neck. Under pressure from police, Sewnarain admitted his role within hours.
Sentencing him to life imprisonment, magistrate Sharon Marks told him he had betrayed his wife's trust in the cruelest way.
"You deprived your children of their mother," she said. "You had many remedies to get rid of your spouse such as divorce or separation. This type of murder invokes the indignation of the public and requires a sentence which will ensure they do not take the law into their hands."
Sewnarain's two accomplices have also been arrested and are due before the courts imminently.
