Dewani murder: Prosecution chief terms husband ‘murderer’

LONDON - The family of an Indian-origin Briton, accused of arranging his bride’s murder during their honeymoon in Cape Town, said they were “deeply shocked” after South Africa’s prosecution chief termed him a “fugitive” and a “murderer” in an emotional outburst.

Shrien Dewani was described by Menzi Simelane, director of South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, as “someone who murdered his wife while he should be celebrating their honeymoon”, the Daily Mail reported.

Simelane said the 31-year-old Dewani, who vehemently denies any involvement in his wife Anni’s murder, had “committed what is a very heinous crime”.

“Mr. Dewani is a fugitive because he ran out of a country (where) there was a warrant of arrest for him,” he said.

Max Clifford, spokesman for Dewani’s family, said: “What chance does Shrien have of justice in South Africa when first the chief of police describes him as a monkey and now the law chief goes on TV to say he committed a heinous crime?”

Dewani’s friends said it was inaccurate to call him a fugitive because he left South Africa with the consent of the police.

Shrien Dewani and his wife Anni, 28, were on their honeymoon in Cape Town when she was murdered last November.

After Anni was killed when the couple’s taxi was hijacked near Cape Town, a senior police commissioner labelled her husband a “monkey”.