Daily Mail

Someone tell me why my girl was murdered, pleads distraught father of bride shot dead in South Africa

By DAN NEWLING, CHRISTIAN GYSIN and SAM GREENHILL
Last updated at 7:45 AM on 24th November 2010

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The family of murdered bride Anni Dewani last night declared that ‘far more questions than answers’ remained over her death.

Eleven days after Anni was killed, her father pleaded for someone to tell him what really happened to his daughter.

Vimod Hindocha and his brother Ashok, who live in Sweden, expressed frustration at ‘inconsistencies’ in the inquiry into her death during her honeymoon in South Africa.

Turmoil: Vimod Hindocha with his daughter Anni Dewani earlier this year. Mr Hindocha has spoken of his frustration with the investigation and the inconsistencies of accounts of what happened to his daughter in Cape Town

Anni, 28, was shot after she and her British husband of just two weeks, millionaire businessman Shrien Dewani, were carjacked by robbers as their taxi drove through a township near Cape Town.

Speaking yesterday, Vimod Hindocha, 61, said: ‘My mind is in turmoil. I am in despair. I have spoken with my son-in-law but there are far more questions than answers.

‘There are many inconsistencies and I am not happy with the South African police as they have not spoken to me in any detail.’ 

Those inconsistencies include different accounts given by Mr Dewani to two British papers about the circumstances surrounding the kidnap.

Tragedy: Shrien Dewani and his 28-year-old wife of two weeks were hijacked as they returned to their five-star Cape Town hotel from an evening meal

He first spoke to the Daily Mail last week and said the couple went into the township of Gugulethu on the instigation of his wife who wanted to ‘look at the real Africa’.

Mystery: Mr Dewani has been asked by police to return to South Africa to help get to the bottom of the events which led to his wife's death

But in an interview with the Sun yesterday, he said it was the taxi driver who suggested they should visit the township to ‘see some African dancing’ and they had been lukewarm about going.

Mr Dewani also told the Mail the attack happened within three minutes of leaving the motorway on the fringe of the township. However the Sun reported him as saying they had earlier been driven to a restaurant inside Gugulethu.

And Mr Dewani had initially said he was ‘dumped through the back of the passenger window as the car was moving’. But he told the Sun: ‘They couldn’t get me out because the child locks were activated, so they ended up dragging me struggling and screaming out of the window.’ 

Yesterday it emerged that Mr Dewani has hired the services of a South African lawyer, Billy Gundelfinger, and also publicist Max Clifford. They aim to crush unfounded suggestions that he could have been involved in his wife’s death.

Last night Mr Clifford said Mr Dewani had been pulled out of the car through the window after it had stopped.

He said the decision to go to the township was made after Anni was talking about plans to go dancing back in Britain, and the taxi driver overheard and suggested he take them to a place where they could see African dancing.

Three suspects – the Dewanis’ taxi driver, Zola Tongo, 31, and 23-year-old Xolile Mngeni and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25 – have been charged with murder.

Although police have publicly declared Mr Dewani is not a suspect, unnamed sources have briefed the press that he does merit further attention. They are apparently ‘puzzled’ at how he escaped the attack with no visible scars.

The taxi driver who fled the scene, Zola Robert Tongo (left, hidden under a sheet), was charged with murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery. Right, another suspect in the murder is led away from Wynberg Magistrates Court in Cape Town

How we reported it: Shrien Dewani has spoken of his dismay at suggestions that he had anything to do with his wife's death

But Mr Dewani, 30, has said: ‘Saying I was somehow involved simply defies logic. I’d searched high and low for my perfect partner. Anni was the one.’ 

He added: ‘Anni wasn’t on any life insurance policies and we hadn’t even made a will. I had no motive – financial or otherwise. I loved her and still love her.’

Anni’s father was asked directly if he felt his son-in-law could have done more to protect her during their honeymoon. He replied: ‘No comment.’

In Anni’s home town of Mariestad – a four-hour drive from Stockholm – her uncle Ashok, 50, said: ‘We cannot include or exclude anybody or anything while the investigation is ongoing. We place our trust in the South African police and the Swedish government at this time.’ 

Police indicated that Mr Dewani – back in Britain for his wife’s funeral – would be asked to return to Cape Town ‘soon’. A spokesman said: ‘There will be an ID parade. We are in constant contact with Mr Dewani.’

Grim task: Police prepare to tow away the taxi in which Mrs Dewani's body was found    

(daily mail)

 

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