Anni's funeral on a spreadsheet

Shrien Dewani used a spreadsheet to plan his murdered wife's funeral and complained that he needed a massage in the run-up to the ceremony.

The testimony of Anni Dewani's cousin Sneha Mashru yesterday clearly irked Dewani, who sat in the dock in the Cape Town High Court fidgeting and shaking his head in disagreement.

Mashru said she and Anni were inseparable, like sisters who "told each other anything and everything".

Mashru had joined Dewani and his family at their Bristol home before the funeral in 2010 but what she saw made her feel very "uncomfortable". In fact, she had become even more suspicious of Dewani, who had told her Anni had been killed in the "hijacking" because she was "screaming".

Mashru claimed Dewani had asked her never to repeat this.

"Shrien was acting very cold and controlling and his behaviour was not the way I thought [it] would be . after his wife's murder. I heard him say to his dad that his shoulders hurt and needed a massage. He said his suits were too big and needed to go to a tailor," Mashru told the court.

"Shrien had a laptop with her funeral event on a spreadsheet ... what song should play, what people would stand where, who he was going to greet, who would be in the car with her body.''

Mashru had been so disgusted that she left.

She said she tried to access Anni's e-mail and Facebook account but Dewani's brother and sister had changed the passwords.

At the funeral parlour, Dewani had acted strangely, she said. Anni's body was swollen and he had tried to force bangles onto her arms. Mashru said she was very disturbed and had begged him to stop because he was hurting her.

"I didn't see any love.''

This had fuelled her suspicions.

At the time of the funeral there was bad blood between the families and they decided to meet to "clear the air'' and discuss what had happened in South Africa. There were already suspicions that Dewani had a role in the murder, she said.

Unbeknown to Dewani, Mashru decided to record a three-hour meeting. She hid a recording device, borrowed from a cousin studying journalism, in her pocket.

In transcripts of the recording handed to court, Dewani's brother, Preyen, says: " ... look at the facts - why would you do such a big wedding with everything that happened . there is no life policy. What is the benefit for Shrien there?''

Shrien says: "Why would I spend £10000 on a first-class ticket or go to the best lodge in South Africa?"

Mashru did not buy any of it, including that a grown man had been forced out of a car window.

Armed with the recording, she met police. She also took with her SMSes Anni had sent her while in South Africa on honeymoon.

In one, the troubled young bride said Dewani was a "good guy" but "I am not happy at all".

"I said if she felt she couldn't be with him, when she came back we could think of options of leaving him," said Mashru.

The next day, Anni had texted that she was feeling better and that she "hated the word divorce".

If Anni had left Dewani it would have brought shame to his family. "Shrien had one broken engagement. It is seen to be taboo in our culture.

"The Dewani family's name was very important. I thought that the text messages that I had from Anni would be important ..." said Mashru.

Dewani's counsel, Francois van Zyl, grilled the petite woman, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Anni.

But she would not be swayed.

Van Zyl said though Mashru claimed that Anni was not trying to fall pregnant, he had a doctor's note that proved otherwise. Shortly before she went on honeymoon Anni had inquired about conceiving. The doctor, whom Van Zyl said he would call to testify if necessary, prescribed folic acid pills if she wanted to fall pregnant. Anni had also not been using birth control.

The trial continues.