Grim fare awaits Dewani in Cape Town hospital
THE high life will be over for honeymoon murder suspect Shrien Dewani when he arrives in South Africa to face trial in just more than a week’s time. A bowl of oats, two slices of buttered bread and a cup of coffee for breakfast is what he can expect in the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Town, where a “safe haven” is being prepared for him.
This is a far cry from the luxury fivestar Waterfront hotel where he last stayed when he visited Cape Town with his newlywed bride, Anni.
The Sunday Times has learnt that when Dewani lands in Cape Town — his arrival is scheduled for April 8 — he will face a court hearing and then be transferred to the high-care wing of the psychiatric facility in Observatory.
Officials, who were adamant he would receive no special favours, said Dewani would start his days there with the regulation hospital breakfast, like every body else there. They said he would be treated like other criminal suspects needing psychiatric care.
He would have to give up his cellphone, computer and similar gadgets and would be allowed visitors during a two-hour period starting at 2pm every Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. Dewani would meet them in the presence of guards on a lawn or in a foyer, where there was a CCTV monitor.
Visitors could bring him food, but they would not be allowed to give him money, an employee said. The food would be stored in a fridge and he would be allowed to have it only after 10am — having had his oats and bread breakfast as per Valkenberg’s rules.
Prosecutors would not confirm where Dewani would be held, but employees and even patients at the facility, when the Sunday Times visited on Friday, said they had been informed that he would be kept there. The 123-year-old government institution has a striking resemblance to a prison with its high front wall, high fence and intense searches at the gate.
Officials said a special ward would be prepared for Dewani. One employee said ward four would be reserved for him. Wards in this wing normally accommodated between four and six patients in single beds, but he was likely to have only one bed.
NPA spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga confirmed the justice department was this week making final arrangements with the home secretary in Britain to extradite Dewani.
He would be charged in Cape Town in connection with the death of Anni, in what the police believe was a staged hijacking.
Legal sources yesterday said indications were that Dewani would arrive as planned on Tuesday next week.
His South Africa-based legal team, from the firm Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs, declined to comment this week on the build-up to the trial.
To date, there has been no indication of a further delay to extradition procedures.
However, a source in the legal field said Dewani’s trial was likely to be postponed for a month.
On arrival at Cape Town International Airport, he will be transferred straight to the high court, where the case will be formally postponed to an as yet undisclosed date in May.
From the court he will then be transferred to Valkenberg.
The media will hear on Thursday whether the trial can be broadcast live, along similar lines to that of the Oscar Pistorius trial, or whether Dewani’s psychiatric condition will result in a broadcasting blackout.
The trial is likely to take place in a smaller courtroom, which seats only about 50 people, legal sources said.
Although the UK authorities would not discuss the specifics around Dewani’s extradition, he is expected to board a flight from the UK on April 7.
Metropolitan Police spokesman Richard Jones explained the normal procedure for extraditing those wanted for crimes in other countries.
“How it often works is that officers from the extradition unit accompany suspects on flights and do an official handover to authorities on the other end,” said Jones.
“It’s normally two officers [who accompany the suspect].”
Dewani has been a patient at a hospital in his home town of Bristol during his drawn-out fight to escape extradition on grounds of poor mental health.
He claimed he would not receive humane treatment and a fair trial in South Africa.