Brit-Indian carjack husband rejects accusations of role in wife’s murder

LONDON - Brit-Indian Shrien Dewani has rejected speculation that he was involved in the killing of his 28-year-old wife during their honeymoon trip in South Africa.

Shrien and Anni Dewani were two weeks into their Cape Town honeymoon when the taxi they were in was hijacked in Khayelitsha township by two men armed with guns on November 13.

They ordered the driver of the taxi to get out and then took off with the car and the couple.

Shrien was later released, but the gunmen took off with Anni, who was later found inside the car shot dead.

“People who suggest this could not have seen us together. I tried to cover Anni with my body. She started to scream and cry out hysterically,” the Guardian quoted the 30-year-old businessman, as saying.

After shoving their driver in the back, the carjackers drove around at speed and almost lost control, also holding a gun to his head and threatening to kill his wife, he said.

“I was clinging to Anni for all I was worth - begging them to let us both get out of the car together. But they wouldn’t listen. They couldn’t get me out because the child locks were activated - so they ended up dragging me struggling and screaming out of the window,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dewani’s brother Preyen Dewani has also issued a statement dismissing “totally false accusations blaming him for what happened to his wife from people seeking to divert this matter away from security in South Africa for ordinary people”.

“Shrien is having to deal with the tragic loss of his chosen life partner on their honeymoon as well as the horrific ordeal of being held up and terrorised at gunpoint before his wife was brutally murdered,” the statement said.

“At this stage I would like to make it clear that Shrien has not been asked to go back to South Africa. As you can imagine he has been severely traumatised by what happened to Anni and himself … he is currently receiving medical assistance and help to deal with the awful trauma that he is experiencing,” it added. (ANI)