Anni Dewani did not get justice in SA, court told
MURDERED bride Anni Dewani’s family believes they “did not get justice in South Africa”.
They told the North London Coroner’s Court yesterday that South African authorities failed to call Scotland Yard detectives to give evidence at Shrien Dewani’s trial, which collapsed earlier this year.
The Cape High Court had also failed to properly interrogate the motive behind the alleged plot to murder Anni.
But North London coroner Andrew Walker warned Anni’s father, Vinod Hindocha, that the family may not get the answers they are looking for at an inquest hearing into her death.
Walker adjourned the inquest into the death of Anni, who was shot and killed while on honeymoon in South Africa in 2010.
Her husband Shrien, a wealthy Bristol businessman, was charged with plotting her murder in a staged hijacking but found not guilty and freed.
Pleading with Walker to continue the inquest into Anni’s death, Vinod said: “I’ve been tortured for four or five years now and I still don’t know why my daughter died. We did not get justice in South Africa.”
But Walker noted that even if Shrien, who was not present at court, were to be called to the witness box there was a slim chance he would answer questions that would incriminate him.
“My view is that it would serve no purpose,” Walker said, citing legislation that provides protection from self-incrimination when giving evidence to the coroner’s court.
The matter returns in October, with Walker directing that a set of questions the Hindochas have for Shrien be sent to his lawyers with a request for him to indicate if he would provide answers.
Outside court, Anni’s uncle, Ashok Hindocha, said the family had “10 to 15 questions that we need to be answered. That is up to Shrien Dewani, if he wants the family to [continue to] suffer, if he has any pleasure in that.
“If he’s man enough he should come forward and end this misery. That’s all we want. Tell us what happened,” he said.
“He’s a free man, what else has he to be afraid of? Just tell us what happened so we can move on with our lives.”