Shrien Dewani ‘not faking mental illness’

Shrien Dewani is not faking mental illness in order to avoid extradition to South Africa, his lawyer has said.

Mr Dewani, 31, who is accused of plotting the murder of his Swedish wife Anni on their honeymoon, is challenging an order that he can be extradited.

His barrister told the High Court that extraditing him would “manifestly endanger his health or risk his life”.

The care home owner, from Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, denies any involvement in the killing of his wife, 28.

In August, a judge ruled that he could be sent to South Africa to stand trial.

Home Secretary Theresa May signed an order approving the extradition in September.

Mrs Dewani was shot dead when the taxi the couple were travelling in was hijacked in the Gugulethu township in Cape Town in November last year.

Mr Dewani was released unharmed but his wife’s body was found later in the abandoned car.

‘Suicide risk’

Mr Dewani is accused of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and obstructing the administration of justice.

The appeal is taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday at the High Court in London.

The court was told Mr Dewani is so unwell he has been detained for a further six months under the Mental Health Act.

The hearing was told he had been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and severe depression, and is currently receiving compulsory psychiatric treatment under the Act.

He did not attend the hearing.

Clare Montgomery QC, Mr Dewani’s lawyer, told the court that her client was “too ill to be extradited, and would be at a high risk of suicide if he was sent to South Africa.

She asked two judges to block the extradition order, also arguing that Mr Dewani would be at serious risk of violence if he were to be kept in custody in South Africa, including sexual violence, at the hands of other prisoners.

Ms Montgomery argued Mr Dewani was so ill that he would be incapable of giving instructions to his lawyers or following trial proceedings, and said that any extradition should be delayed until he recovered.

Judge’s ‘error’

She said her client had always wished for a fair trial.

“However that is, at the moment, on the advice we have been given by those who are treating him, not possible,” she said.

Ms Montgomery asked the High Court to discharge the extradition order, or adjourn its implementation.

She argued that District Judge Riddle, who ruled that Mr Dewani could be extradited, had fallen into error when he accepted assurances from South African authorities that her client’s life and health would not be endangered if he was sent to South Africa.

Taxi driver Zola Tongo, 31, from Bothasig, Cape Town, was sentenced to 18 years in jail in December 2010 for murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and perverting the course of justice, after agreeing a plea bargain.

He told the Western Cape High Court he had been offered 15,000 rand (£1,400) by Mr Dewani to kill his wife.

Two other men, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, and Xolile Mngeni, 23, are also charged with murder, as well as kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances, and are due to go on trial at the Western Cape High Court next year.