Dewani’s wife planned to divorce him
Johannesburg, Oct. 20: The wife of BritishIndian millionaire Shrien Dewani, accused of orchestrating her murder while they were on honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010, had a strained relationship with her husband and was thinking of divorcing him, a South African court heard on Monday.
Dewani, a 34- year- old businessman, did not look like someone who was grieving at his wife Anni’s funeral, her cousin testified at the trial in Cape Town that resumed on Monday.
“The things Shrien told me didn’t make sense, he didn’t come across as a grieving husband, the things he said on phone sounded odd. He didn’t look like someone who was grieving,” Anni’s cousin and confidante Sneha Mashru told the court.
“She was thinking of getting a divorce,” Ms Mashru added. She gave details of her communication with her cousin that outlined the strained relationship between Anni and her husband before their wedding while claiming her cousin was already thinking of divorce after arriving in South Africa and that Dewani was behaving strangely after her death.
Ms Mashru also commented on Anni’s unwillingness to go on honeymoon, but Judge Jeanette Traverso said she wanted only admissible evidence, not hearsay from the witness about Anni not wanting to go on honeymoon with Dewani.
“I went to the police because I was suspicious of Shrien, he also had one broken engagement, a taboo in Hindu culture,” Ms Mashru said, adding that she thought the text messages from Anni would be important to the police as proof that their relationship was not good. Earlier, Ms Mashru said she had been surprised that Dewani had planned the entire funeral on a spreadsheet.