Go back Shrien’
INLSA
Go to South Africa and do it. Let the world know what happened. Photo: Noor Slamdien.
Murdered honeymoon tourist Anni Dewani’s father has one message for Shrien Dewani: “Go to South Africa and do it. Let the world know what happened.”
“If he’s not guilty, why can’t he just go back?” said Vinod Hindocha yesterday in a phone interview with the Cape Times from his home in Mariestad, Sweden.
Last week Shrien Dewani, accused of orchestrating his wife Anni’s murder, was arrested in the UK and granted bail of R2.7 million. The National Prosecuting Authority was compiling documents requesting he be extradited but it emerged in court proceedings in the UK last week that he planned to fight extradition.
“I don’t know why he’s doing that. If he says proudly that he did not do it, then just go back (to Cape Town). Clear the doubts. What’s the big deal?
“Give us justice. That’s what I ask for. Justice for my daughter who was so lively and so innocent,” Hindocha said.
He had not spoken to his son-in-law or his relatives in weeks and would not comment on whether he planned to contact them. Hindocha did not plan to go to the UK to be present at court proceedings involving Shrien Dewani.
Last week Hindocha was in Cape Town for the trial of shuttle driver Zola Robert Tongo, who in court documents said Shrien Dewani had asked him to help orchestrate his wife’s murder and had offered R15 000 for the killing.
Yesterday Hindocha said he planned to return with relatives next year.
About eight months ago, before knowing his daughter would visit the city, he had booked tickets to Cape Town for a holiday.
“When Anni was murdered I was about to cancel the tickets to South Africa. But when I came to SA last week it was like heaven on earth. Thank God we did not cancel those tickets. We will come to Cape Town next year then go on to the Maldives,” Hindocha said.
During his visit to the city last week, Hindocha had been surprised at how sympathetic and kind people had been towards him.
“I was at a restaurant and someone came up and gave me a condolence card. It made me cry. There are lovely people in Cape Town. This is from my heart. I’m not saying it because I feel forced to..”
He and his relatives plan to arrive in Cape Town on February 21, four days before Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni, now in prison, are set to appear in court for their alleged involvement in Anni’s murder.
Yesterday Angela Ciuchini, spokeswoman for the Chitwa Chitwa Private Game Lodge at the Sabi Sand Game Reserve in Mpumalanga, said Shrien and Anni Dewani stayed there from November 9 to 12, the day before Anni’s murder.
Ciuchini said Shrien Dewani had presented himself as a travel agent wanting to do a site inspection of the lodge.
“He said he had to organise four or five trips in 2011 for high-profile directors. Special rates were negotiated and he did pay a reduced price (for their stay),” she said.
Hindocha said he had recently heard about Shrien Dewani’s negotiations with the lodge. “I didn’t know anything about that before. I’m shocked.”
Revelations that police were probing whether Shrien Dewani may also be linked to the murder three years ago of King William’s Town doctor Pox Raghavjee had surprised Hindocha. “I read that in the paper. We are following the case from this side.”
Shrien Dewani’s British public relations specialist Max Clifford has denied his client was involved in any killing and said that if Shrien had pretended to be a travel agent to get a discounted stay at a game lodge, it did not make him a murderer.
Hindocha said he and his family were struggling to move forward. “It’s terrible. Things are not getting better. I can’t go to work. I can’t do anything.”
He described photographs of Anni in his home. “We have photos everywhere. I see one of Anni smiling broadly. There’s another one of her smiling, looking out the picture.
“We have family members here, but we’re not ourselves. We just walk round and round. Our house is dead. We can’t get peace of mind. We feel Anni’s with us, but we feel bad.”
Hindocha may never get over his daughter’s murder.
“This is a deep hole in my heart that will never ever be filled. That’s a fact of life. We can never bring Anni back.”
caryn.dolley@inl.co.za - Cape Times
