Husband ‘plotted’ wife’s murder on honeymoon in South Africa

The claim marked a sensational twist in the murder of Anni Dewani, 28, who was killed after the car in which she was travelling with her husband Shrien Dewani was reportedly hijacked on the outskirts of Cape Town on 13 November.

The victim's bullet-riddled body was later found in an impoverished township neighbourhood.

Dewani's husband, who returned to Britain days after the incident in which he was unharmed, has denied involvement, but the court heard allegations he connived with a taxi driver to stage a robbery and have his wife shot dead.

Three men were originally charged with the murder but as part of a plea bargain the High Court in Cape Town heard one of the accused allege that the husband ordered the killing.

A judicial spokesman refused to say if Dewani, who accompanied his wife's body back to Britain, would be charged.

The claim that Dewani plotted the murder was made by Zola Tongo, the driver of the taxi in which the couple were travelling in near Cape Town.

Tongo was sentenced to 18 years in jail yesterday after pleading guilty to murder and aggravated robbery, as the victim's father looked on and wept.

Tongo's plea bargain documents reveal that the hijacking was part of a plan devised together with Dewani to conceal the murder.

The two other men accused of Dewani's killing are due to face trial on 25 February.

Prior to the killing, the honeymooners had dined in a seaside restaurant in a town outside Cape Town and were on their way back to the city when Anni Dewani asked to see township nightlife, according to reports at the time.

Tongo told the court he carefully went through the hijacking and murder details with Dewani, even taking him to a blackmarket foreign exchange dealer in Cape Town to arrange payment and avoid a bank audit trail.