I'll name new suspect, says honeymoon driver as police reveal bride 'was accidentally shot as hijackers argued about rape'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:37 AM on 6th December 2010

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The taxi driver in the South African carjacking murder case will make a ‘bombshell revelation’ in court today by naming a ‘fourth suspect’, it was claimed last night.

Zola Tongo is one of three men arrested over the murder of newlywed Anni Dewani, 28, wife of British businessman Shrien Dewani.

The three suspects are due to appear in court today, when it is thought that Tongo, who was last week finalising a ‘plea bargain’ with prosecutors, will outline his story.

Plea bargain: The Dewanis' taxi driver, Zola Tongo, has said that he will reveal a new suspect in the murder case

Sources close to the case have claimed the court will hear a suggestion from the driver ‘about the role of the husband’.
The court may also hear that the police have circumstantial phone evidence suggesting a wider plot than revealed so far, it has been suggested.

Mr Dewani, 30, has denied being anything other than a victim, while those close to him have lashed out at the South African police for giving the impression that he may be a suspect.
The couple were hijacked on November 13 as they were driven back to their five-star Cape Town hotel.

Mr Dewani was kicked out of the car in Cape Town’s impoverished Gugulethu township.
 Nine hours later, his wife’s body was discovered slumped in the abandoned taxi.

Mrs Dewani had been shot in the neck.

The new claims came as the lawyer of Mrs Dewani husband's Shrien announced he was withdrawing from the case.

Setback: Businessman Shrien Dewani's lawyer has announced that he is resigning as his representative. Mr Dewani's wife Anni was shot dead in South Africa on November 14

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

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. 

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-1335939/Ill-new-suspect-says-honeymoon-driver-police-reveal-bride-accidentally-shot-hijackers-argued-rape.html#ixzz17JxVb7Tz