A judge threw out a high-profile murder case Monday against Shrien Dewani,
who was accused of killing his wife while they were on their honeymoon in South
Africa.
Judge Jeanette Traverso called the state's case
"weak" and said evidence fell "far below" the standard
needed for conviction.
It took years for prosecutors to bring him to trial
over the killing of his wife, Anni.
Dewani, 34, was accused of hiring hit men to kill
her in Cape Town in November 2010.
He has repeatedly denied
orchestrating the killing, pleading not guilty at the start of the trial in
October.
South African authorities were
locked in a three-year court battle to get Dewani extradited from the UK to
face trial.
But after the prosecution put
forward its witnesses, the defense sought to have the charges dropped, citing a
lack of evidence.
Differences seen in witnesses'
accounts
Traverso found there was no
reasonable chance a court would convict Dewani unless he took the stand and
incriminated himself, a legal analyst Kelly Phelps said Monday.
Other witnesses contradicted each
other and could not be taken at face value because they were accomplices to the
killing of Anni Dewani, Phelps explained. She said it was likely that the
judge's decision would be the end of the case, because the prosecution
"can only appeal if the judge erred on a matter of law."
Addressing reporters outside the
court, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesman Nathi Mncube referred to
"a lack of understanding" in the case.
"Firstly we have three people
who have been convicted in this case, ideally you would want to have all
conspirators all tried together at the same time, but unfortunately that could
not happen, not because of the NPA or anyone else, but because of the fact that
we could not extradite Mr. Dewani in time so that he could be tried with the
other three accused," Mncube said.
The killing took place during a taxi
ride through a township on the edge of Cape Town, just over two weeks after the
couple's wedding.
The taxi driver, Zola Tongo,
confessed within weeks of the bride's death that he had hired two men to kill
her. In a plea deal with South African authorities, he said Dewani paid him to
carry out the killing and to make it look as though the couple were the victims
of a carjacking.
Tongo was subsequently sentenced to
18 years in prison for his part in the killing. His two accomplices also
received lengthy sentences for their role in the crime. One of them died of
brain cancer in October, The Guardian reported.
Family hoping for answers
Dewani, a care home owner, returned
to the United Kingdom after his wife's death. He avoided extradition to South
Africa on mental health grounds during a lengthy court battle, but he was
eventually sent back in April to face trial.
Psychiatric experts said that he was
suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression and that he'd
tried to take his life. Before his extradition, he was held at a secure mental
health unit in southwest England.
But in August, he was declared fit
to stand trial after undergoing psychiatric observation, according to South
African media.
An indictment in the case said he
faced charges including conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery with
aggravating circumstances, murder and kidnapping, the South African Press
Association reported.
Dewani, from Bristol in southwest
England, said his wife was the victim of a carjacking and denied any
involvement in the killing.
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