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Bisexual British billionaire cleared of murdering wife during honeymoon

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Millionaire British businessman Shrien Dewani ​who was accused of murdering his Swedish bride, Anni, walked free on Monday (Dec 8) after a South African judge threw out the the case without calling on the defence.

The shock judgment in what became known as the "honeymoon murder" case left Dewani’s mother weeping with relief in court while his late wife’s family wept bitter tears.

Prosecutors said Dewani hired hitmen to kill 28-year-old Anni in a staged hijacking in a Cape Town township during their honeymoon in November 2010, because he is gay and felt trapped into marriage by family pressures.

But ​Dewani said he is bisexual and loved Anni.

Prosecutors said that she had been killed with a single shot, in execution style, after the hijackers allowed Dewani out of the vehicle and drove off with her.

Judge Jeannette Traverso said the state’s evidence had "fallen far below" the level needed to secure a conviction and it would be unjust to force Dewani to testify in his own defence in the hope that he would incriminate himself.

The judge conceded there were "a number of unanswered questions" about the murder and acknowledged "strong public opinion" that Dewani should take the stand.

Dressed in an immaculate suit and tie, 34-year-old Dewani often appeared nervous in the dock, with his head snapping around at any sudden sound, but he looked unemotional as he left the court.

Wife's family: Justice failed us

Ami Denborg, who is Anni’s sister told an international media scrum on the steps of the high court: "Justice has failed us."

She said the Hindocha family were sad that Dewani had not given them the full story about his lifestyle.

"We just wish Shrien had been honest with us and especially Anni," she said.

The family has said Anni would not have married Dewani if she had known of his sexuality.

In a written statement to the court on the first day of his trial – in an apparent effort to pre-empt the argument that he killed his wife because he was gay – Dewani admitted to sex with male prostitutes but said he considered himself to be bisexual.

The judge later rejected as irrelevant testimony from a major state witness, sado-masochism "master" and gay prostitute Leopold Leisser, who reportedly told British police that Dewani had said he was getting married to a "lovely girl" but needed "to find a way out of it".

The court did, however, hear that Anni sent Dewani desperate emails just days after their lavish wedding ceremony in Mumbai questioning his "feelings" for her.

"I don’t want an insecure man or a man whose feelings doesn’t come naturally that you have to force yourself," Anni Dewani, 28, wrote on Nov 5, 2010.

She was killed eight days later.

Expected to leave South Africa

The judge said evidence given by taxi driver Zola Tongo that implicated Dewani in a murder plot was "highly improbable," while another prosecution witness was described as a "self-confessed liar".

Tongo and one of the hijackers – both serving long jail terms for the murder – told the court that Dewani hired them for 15,000 rand (S$1,718) to kill his new wife.

Prosecutors never got the chance to cross-examine Dewani on why he was willing to pay an unknown taxi driver so much in cash to organise a trip that could have been handled by his top-class hotel.

Prosecutors are unable to appeal and Dewani was expected to leave South Africa as soon as possible.

Source: AFP

Related report: Millionaire bisexual ‘not guilty’ of killing bride in South Africa

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