Plan was to 'kidnap Anni, not kill her'

20 October 2014 - 02:00 By Nashira Davids and Philani Nombembe
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DIED IN PRISON: Xolile Mngeni in the Cape Town High Court in 2012 for his part in the murder of Anni Dewani. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Mngeni was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had applied to be released on compassionate grounds, but died on Saturday
DIED IN PRISON: Xolile Mngeni in the Cape Town High Court in 2012 for his part in the murder of Anni Dewani. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Mngeni was diagnosed with a brain tumour and had applied to be released on compassionate grounds, but died on Saturday
Image: NIC BOTHMA/EPA

Anni Dewani's death could have been orchestrated from the switchboard of a luxury hotel by a receptionist who had used one of the hit man's bullets to ward off evil spirits - and a mysterious fifth man might be involved.

This theory is being pursued by the advocate defending Shrien Dewani, who appears in the Cape Town High Court today charged with orchestrating the killing of his new bride.

And the murder was not part of a hijacking - as the world has been told - but of a botched kidnapping intended to extort a ransom from Shrien Dewani.

Dewani's counsel, Francois van Zyl, has been gradually outlining the kidnapping scenario.

Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and the late Xolile Mngeni were convicted of Anni's murder in 2010. Monde Mbolombo was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. But a fifth man might have been involved.

Dewani's plea explanation exposed his sexuality and detailed the house renovations he planned to accommodate his bride and her saris, shoes and make-up.

The plea explanation contained particulars of the first conversation Shrien had with Tongo when he drove the couple to their hotel.

Anni apparently told Tongo that Shrien had flown her to Paris on a private jet to propose, that he had chartered a helicopter for his stag party in Las Vegas and that their wedding was an "amazing" one-week event in India.

This implied that Tongo was aware that they were well off.

Tongo, who has turned state witness, claimed in 2010 that Dewani had said he wanted to have Anni killed and that it had to look like a hijacking.

Tongo asked Mbolombo to find a hit man. Qwabe was recruited by Mbolombo and then Mngeni became involved.

Van Zyl grilled Qwabe, also a state witness, about claims that Mbolombo was merely a "link" between him and Tongo.

Mbolombo was working at the Protea Hotel, in Century City. Dewani's evidence includes CCTV footage obtained from the hotel's switchboard.

Linguists interpreted the Xhosa conversations Mbolombo had with Qwabe and Tongo. Mbolombo's cellphone records were also obtained. He made several calls to the hit men before and after the murder.

"In audio recordings obtained from the hotel where Mbolombo worked," Van Zyl said, "he is heard saying to Tongo: 'There are five of us, remember'. Were there five of you involved in this . who could possibly be the fifth person?"

Qwabe said that only Mbolombo could answer that.

Mbolombo, it has emerged, made a third affidavit in September after his phone records were examined.

In Mbolombo's first statement, made in November 2010, he said he had asked Qwabe for a bullet to help his son.

"He had trouble sleeping at my house and I started to believe there was an evil spirit responsible for this. I consulted a traditional healer [sangoma] and she asked where she could obtain a bullet. She said she needed the gunpowder of the bullet to make some medicine for me," Mbolombo said in his statement.

He claims that when Tongo asked him about a hit man, he approached Qwabe.

Van Zyl put it to Qwabe that Anni was not to have been killed but kidnapped. That is why Shrien, "the man with the money", was freed unharmed.

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