The mysterious case of a hijacked honeymoon | Forensic Files

[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any time you need support
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notes for this episode on your app or on our website in the late 2000s life was going well
for 27 year old annie indocha the engineering graduate had a good job in stockholm
at the headquarters of multinational telecommunications company ericsson and had recently purchased her
own apartment with some help from her parents annie's close-knit hindu family were of
indian heritage and had immigrated to the southern swedish town of mariastod before she was
born although annie had moved away she returned to her family home often maintaining a close relationship with
her father mother older sister and younger brother in 2009 annie's aunt who was the
family's expert matchmaker introduced her to a young man named srian dawani 29 year old srien was two years older
than annie and was from the english city of bristol like annie he had hindu parents and was
one of three children with an older brother and a younger sister srian had an economics degree from
manchester university and worked for his family's successful business running nursing homes
throughout england's west country although annie and srian lived in different countries
they soon struck up a long distance friendship during a visit to london annie went on
her first date with srian they attended a west end performance of the lion king before having dinner at an upmarket
fusion restaurant the couple had a wonderful time with shreyan particularly liking the way
annie made him laugh despite the long distance their relationship blossomed over time
in february 2010 annie decided to relocate to the united kingdom a move that would help develop her
connection with treyan her father vinod and mother nalam gave her their blessing
annie quit her job at ericsson and on march 1 she moved in with her cousin in luton a
large town about 50 kilometers northwest of london shortly after the move annie called her parents to announce
that things were going well with her and shreyan and that she had been welcomed by his
family several weeks later vinod and traveled to the uk to meet shrien's parents
it was a whirlwind to visit that included afternoon tea a tour of bristol and dinner at an
indian restaurant by the end of the evening everyone agreed that the meeting had gone well
on june 10 shreyan took annie to paris on a private jet after gifting annie a designer dress and
christian dior shoes shreyan took her out for dinner at the ritz hotel instead of dessert annie was presented
with a diamond engagement ring worth 25 000 pounds the couple began planning their wedding
they initially wanted to get married in dubai but after an impromptu visit to india
they fell in love with mumbai and decided to have the wedding there instead annie and srian planned to have four
traditional hindu ceremonies but because these wouldn't be legally binding they would make the marriage
official at a uk registry office after their honeymoon on thursday october 28 2010
the wedding festivities began at mumbai's renaissance hotel the lavish celebrations lasted for three
days costing the hinduja and dawani families around 200 000 pounds altogether the wedding concluded on saturday
october 30 with a reception held by the dawanis photos captured the newlyweds beaming
with annie dressed in a blue and green sari and srian wearing a silver outfit with a
scarf that complemented his bride's clothing after the reception the couple farewelled their loved ones
with annie and her family weeping as they said their goodbyes [Music] shreyan had intended for their honeymoon
destination to be a surprise but before he could tell any where they were going his mother let it slip that he had
booked a trip to south africa [Music] [Music] annie and srian arrived in south africa
on tuesday november 9 2010 and immediately travelled to the chitwa chitwa game lodge a luxury five-star resort
located inside kruger national park the couple spent three days visiting the park's feigned sites and animals
on friday november 12 annie and shreem caught a flight from johannesburg to cape town where they would spend
the remainder of their holiday cape town is the second largest city in south africa
located on a peninsula in the country's south western corner today it's known for its busy harbour
white sand beaches and the imposing table mountain that looms nearby tourists can ride cable cars to the top
of the mountain or travel a short distance to visit the world famous wineries just outside of
the city despite cape town's natural beauty and popularity with the wealthy travelers
it has a complicated history and is also home to significant poverty and inequality as a result of the group
areas act of 1950 non-white citizens of south africa were prohibited from living in the municipal
limits of any of the country's cities all people of color in cape town were forced out of the city's established
neighborhoods on the slopes of table mountain and into the cape flats a sandy barren
stretch of land on the city's outskirts where they established their own makeshift townships
some managed to build themselves brick bungalows on the tiny plots but most residents who lived below the
poverty line were forced to live in densely packed squatter camps that lacked electricity
running water or sewage systems over the years the cape flats population grew beyond
that inside cape town's municipal city limits and the area gained notoriety for being
the dumping ground of the apartheid when the south african apartheid ended in the early 1990s
residents of the cape flats were no longer restricted by segregation laws but many remained bound to the area by
language history economics and ethnic politics cape town's international airport is
located in the middle of the cape flats visitors to the city travel along the n2
highway which passes by the sprawling shanty townships to reach cape town's wealthy center
upon arriving at cape town airport annie and srian exited the arrivals hall to look for a taxi to take them to their
accommodation the cape grace hotel shreyan found a friendly young taxi driver named zola tongo
who worked full time as a limousine driver for a local tour company but used his own vehicle to shuttle
passengers in his spare time tongo loaded the newlyweds into their luggage into his grey volkswagen charan
minivan and drove them the 20-minute journey to their hotel there he gave them his phone number in
case they wanted to use his services again after checking in shreyan and annie had
a drink at the hotel bar followed by dinner at a fancy restaurant located a short walk away
the next day they spent most of their time relaxing by the hotel pool before getting ready for dinner at 96
winery road an upmarket restaurant located in the heldeberg valley wine region about 50 kilometers east of cape town
srihan called taxi driver zola tongo whom the couple had liked to arrange for him to take them to dinner
annie dressed up for the occasion wearing a black dress a shawl and black and silver high heels
she carried her blackberry phone in a small purse and wore a giorgio armani wristwatch a
white gold and diamond bracelet and her diamond engagement ring shreyan dressed in a dark suit with a
white shirt tongo collected the couple and took them on a brief tour of the city at night
before heading on to the n2 highway towards the 96 winery road restaurant as they drove annie and srian decided
they didn't feel like eating a large lavish meal so tongo suggested they try the surfside restaurant
an asian inspired eatery in the nearby beach resort town of strand the couple agreed and tongo dropped them
there at 9 30 p.m annie and sri and dined on curry and sushi with shreyan calling tongo half an hour
later to request a pickup in 20 minutes by 10 15 pm the couple were back in tongo's minivan
returning to cape town along the n2 highway approximately one hour later at 11 12
p.m a 33 year old government employee named symbol nilay madakazi was returning to
his home near the cape flats township of kyliecha symbonile had driven a friend to the
airport and was pulling into his garage when he noticed a stranger dressed neatly in a dark suit standing on his
doorstep as visitors to the area were rare symbonile was baffled by the man's presence
the stranger approached symbol nearly and said excuse me is there a nearby police
station where i can report a hijack because my wife and i were hijacked the man identified himself as sri and
dewani and symbonile placed a call to the police on his behalf as symbonile spoke to the dispatcher he
asked srian for further information such as the location of the vehicle and its make and
model srian was unable to provide any answers he paced back and forth outside simbonile's garage crying
softly until the police arrived 15 minutes later srien regained his composure and
explained that his wife had suggested taking a detour through the cape flats as the area around their hotel felt too
similar to her home in sweden and she wanted to see quote the real africa the tourism industry offered visitors
official township tours through gugulettu the largest of the cake flats townships
accompanied by a guide tourists would meet locals see historical sites and eat at a
barbecue shack named mazzoli's which was made famous in 2009 when celebrity chef jamie oliver dined
there and described the food as heaven tours of gugulettu only operated during the day
as the area was plagued by violent crimes at night including rapes assaults carjackings
home invasions and murders which occurred approximately every two and a half days
despite this the daytime tours were considered safe as no major crimes had ever been
committed against tourists although the area was known to be dangerous after dark
annie and srian's taxi driver had agreed to take them on a late night tour of gugulettu
according to srian as they were passing the international airport tongo's minivan exited the n2
highway first turning left and then turning right onto cliff fontaine road one of the main thoroughfares through
the guga latu township they then drove past the gugulettu cemetery before making a few turns to drive past
mazzoli's the barbecue restaurant made famous by jamie oliver at that point it was almost 11 pm and
the streets were quiet then just as tongo was about to turn right back onto clip fontaine road
a man left out and violently banged a handgun against the minivan windscreen another man suddenly opened the driver's
door and forced tongo out of the vehicle and into the back where the couple was sitting the man
then jumped behind the wheel while the carjacker with the gun took the front passenger seat
as they sped off down the road annie began to scream and cry shreyan attempted to shield her with his
body but the gun-wielding carjacker pressed the weapon against srien's temple and stole his watch which
was valued at two thousand pounds shreyan also handed over between five and six thousand
south african rand in cash or the equivalent of four to five hundred australian dollars
annie was forced to hand over her giorgio armani watch and white gold diamond bracelet
after handing over their valuables sri and begged the carjackers to let him and his wife
go a distraught annie spoke in the indian language of gujarati to let him know that she had hidden her
engagement and wedding rings shreyan attempted to hide his mobile phone in his trousers
so he could later call for help but one of the carjackers noticed and confiscated the device
the carjacker then held his gun to sriel's temple and stated lie to me again and i will kill you both
the driver continued north for several minutes before pulling over to the side of the
road and forcing tongo out of the van with the newly weds still inside the driver then continued down the
street at high speed smashing over speed bumps and swerving erratically the faster he drove the louder annie
screamed the carjackers took annie and shreyan back onto the n2 highway and headed away from cape town deeper
into the cape flats after about seven minutes they exited the highway at baden-powell
drive and headed into the kyliece township the armed carjacker continued to press
his weapon against srian's head but assured him they had no intention of harming the couple
and only wanted the minivan srian clung to annie and repeatedly begged to be released
approximately 20 minutes after the carjackers had thrown tongo out of the van srien was forced at
gunpoint to climb out the back passenger window of the moving vehicle leaving his wife behind
he found himself nearly 20 kilometers from where tongo had been ejected srian stumbled along for about 300
meters until he came to an intersection the streets were quiet so he knocked on doors
looking for help which is when he encountered simbonile matakazi [Music] shreyan was driven back to the cape
grace hotel by the police while a search was initiated for the minivan at the hotel shreyan phoned his family
in the uk to inform them what had happened and that annie was still missing [Music]
soon after another police car arrived at the hotel carrying tongo the carjackers had left
the taxi driver approximately one kilometer from the gugulettu police station and he had made his way there on foot to
report the carjacking tongo told police he couldn't remember the names of his passengers
but knew they were staying at the cape grace hotel so the officers had driven him there in
a bid to find out more information shortly after midnight on sunday november 14 14.
shreyan's father prakash dawani called the hinduja household in sweden to inform them what had happened
annie's father vanod asked for more information but prakash said he knew nothing else
and would call back when he did through tears annie's mother nalam told her husband
annie is never coming back the nod immediately began making plans to travel to cape town
he was looking into flights when srian called sobbing as he told his father-in-law
sorry dad i could not take care of your daughter this was followed by another call from
srian's father telling venod he had found flights leaving from amsterdam to cape town later that
morning both men planned to fly to amsterdam and to then board the flight to cape town
together at 6 00 a.m vinod boarded a two-hour flight to amsterdam from the swedish
city of gothenburg this was incredibly difficult for him as he was out of contact with his family
for the entire duration when vinod finally landed in amsterdam he found a pay phone
and called his brother ashok he heard crying and wailing followed by ashok stating
they shot annie earlier that morning in cape town the police had received a call from a
resident of the lita park township not far from where srien had been forced to exit the minivan
the resident had noticed a grey volkswagen minivan parked adjacent to an empty weed covered
field the vehicle was an unusual sight in the area and curious neighbours had peered through
the windows and noticed there was a body inside at 8am police had arrived at the scene
and immediately noticed that blood had seeped out of the rear right-hand door of the minivan and was pooling on
the asphalt below they opened the door and found annie hindoche's body sprawled on her back
across the blood-stained back seat with what appeared to be a bullet wound in her neck
a bullet was lodged in the back of the rear right seat and gunpowder residue was found in
various parts of the minivan beneath annie's body officers found her wedding and engagement rings
stuffed into the small gap between the seats annie had been killed by a single gunshot fired at close range
between 5 and 10 centimeters away the bullet had entered annie's neck and had grazed her hand along the way
indicating she had been in a defensive position at the time of her death although there were no signs of sexual
assault marks from someone's right hand were found on her lower left leg a pathologist report concluded that
annie's death had occurred in a matter of heartbeats a 21 year old student who lived less
than 100 meters from the spot where annie's body was discovered later came forward to contradict the
findings that annie hadn't been sexually assaulted she said she had gone to look at the
minivan when the police arrived and had been standing just five meters away when officers opened
the vehicle door the student claimed that annie's head was by the door and her knees were bent up with both
legs apart her dress appeared to have been pulled up around her waist and her underwear had been dragged down
below her knees the student told the telegraph newspaper quote it looked to me very strongly that they had done
something to her i couldn't say if they raped her but she had definitely been attacked
that i am sure about cape town police denied that annie had been found in such a state
the crime was described by cape town's mayor as a blow to all capetonians and south africans
while tourism officials urged visitors to be vigilant and only travel with tour guides
local taxi drivers queried why zola tongo had taken his passengers to such a dangerous part of the
city so late at night with one telling the media it is a dangerous place at night and
every driver would know did he get lost because if he was it was the wrong place to be
annie's father vinod and father-in-law prakash arrived in cape town at 9 00 pm on the
day her body was found with vanard having cried throughout the entire 12-hour flight from amsterdam
they were met at the airport by officials from the swedish and british consulate
who drove them to the cape grace hotel where srien was waiting the nod was struck by sri and strength
and how he was able to hold himself together in public when venard himself couldn't stop crying
the following afternoon of monday november 15 the police took venod to see annie
he thought it looked as though she was sleeping peacefully and might wake up at any moment
vernod kissed his daughter's forehead told her that he loved her and stated papa is here
papa is here i'm so sorry i have come to take you home the arrangements to transport annie's
body back to the uk were made quickly and vernod srien and prakash were scheduled to fly home
the following day on tuesday november 16 the three men sat in the hotel reception waiting until
it was time to go to the airport vernod noticed that srian spent the majority of the time on his laptop or
phone disappearing once for about 10 minutes with an envelope in the newspaper when they flew home that afternoon
shreyan slept for a majority of the flight leaving venod without the chance to speak to him about what happened
in total 25 fingerprints were found throughout zola tongo's minivan and were scanned
through the south african police service's automated fingerprint identification system
a left palm print on the right front fender returned ten possible matches which were manually
compared to the original resulting in a positive id 26 year old unemployed labourer corleele
mongeni had been arrested five years earlier in 2005 on suspicion of killing a man in a bar
fight the charges against him were later dropped on the morning of tuesday november 16
investigators tracked mongenie down to a shack located just a few hundred meters from
where zola tongo's minivan had been abandoned mangini had spent the previous night
partying with friends and was found asleep in a bed with three other people police woke monkey and read him his
riots before placing him under arrest and conducting a search of the shark stuffed between the bed's mattress and
its frame they found a nokia mobile phone when asked who owned the phone mongenie
replied it belongs to the taxi driver hidden inside the shack's roof police discovered annie's giorgio armani watch
and white gold bracelet mungeni was taken in for questioning and soon admitted to being present for the
carjacking and murder of any hinduja he denied being responsible for annie's death
instead placing the blame on a man named umziwa madoda kwabe mongini agreed to accompany the officers
to various scenes of the crime and talk them through the events he pointed out the locations where the
minivan had been hijacked where zola tongo and sri and dawani had been ejected and where stolen items had been hidden
the police then drove mongini through the kailicha township in an attempt to track down his alleged
accomplice dota cuave but were unable to locate him [Music] afterwards mongini was taken to the
holding cells at the directorate for priority crime investigation in belleville two days later on thursday november 18
police located alleged gunman umziwa madoda kwabe the 27 year old married father of three
had no criminal record but was known within the kailicha township as being a small-time drug
dealer police took kwabe in for questioning where he quickly confessed to his involvement
in the fatal carjacking he also revealed the location of a 7.62 millimeter norinco
pistol he had since offloaded to a friend and a drain where he had disposed of the
cartridge from the bullet that had killed annie hindocha police were able to recover both items
and confirm kwabe's pistol to be the murder weapon despite confessing to a number of
aspects relating to the crime kwabe insisted that he hadn't shot annie and that it was his accomplice kolile
mongeni who had killed her in a surprising twist cuabe claimed that he and mongani had
been recruited to carry out the crime by a man named monday and blombo and the taxi driver who had been escorting
the foreign couple throughout the city zola tongo thirty-one-year-old monday and blombo
worked at the reception desk of a luxury hotel called the protea coliseum hotel he and cuabae had first met a decade
earlier when they were both working with an educational project for youths from the cape flats townships
the two men had fallen out of touch in 2006 but suddenly bumped into one another
again on november 1 2010 they chatted for a while and exchanged phone numbers with kwabe
instructing him blombo to call him if anyone was ever bothering him almost two weeks later on friday
november 12 cuabae claimed mblambo had called to say he had a job that needed to be done and
subsequently put quabe in contact with tongo on thursday november 18 police tracked
monday mblambo down and placed him under arrest he quickly confessed to his involvement
with the carjacking and investigators then turned their attention to zola tongo who they initially believed to have been
a victim of the crime that same day tongo retained the services of a lawyer claiming he did so out of fear that the
police planned to assault him on saturday november 20 under advice from his lawyer
tongo handed himself in meanwhile shree and dawani had requested that his wife's funeral be held in
england so that his family and friends could attend and the hindujas agreed in the lead-up to the event several of
annie's loved ones noted that shreyan was behaving strangely her father vinod had noticed the
peculiar behavior since cape town where shreyan had displayed little grief for tears over annie's death
and didn't voice a desire for his wife's killers to be caught instead shreyan had spent almost all of
his time either on his laptop or mobile phone the day before annie's funeral shreyan
informed the hindutchers that a pizza party would be held in annie's honor that night
which offended vinod another clash also occurred at the funeral home hindu custom dictates that
only women can dress the body of a deceased female so annie's sister ami and her cousin
sneha planned to undertake this role annie had been particularly close to snayer who was just
one year younger than her the pair were best friends since childhood and when annie moved
to the uk she had lived with snail when snail and dummy arrived to dress annie in preparation for her funeral srien was
already there with his mother and aunt which was highly unusual during the dressing process shreyan
threw a temper tantrum shocking even his own relatives annie's parents had hoped to spend a few
moments alone with annie before her funeral but when ami asked shreyan if this was
possible he refused ami later addressed the matter with the funeral director who said that hindujas were welcome to
visit annie's body 30 minutes prior to the ceremony at 9 30 a.m on the day of the funeral a
number of annie's relatives arrived to place letters they had written inside her coffin and the family then
held hands around her taking it in turns to offer blessings annie was vinod and nilam's second child
born between eldest daughter army and a son anash in their hindu faith all women were
considered to be the embodiment of the goddess lakshmi as such vinod and nilam considered annie a blessing
she followed in her father's footsteps by pursuing a career in engineering and took a break from her studies in
2006 to take care of her mother after she was diagnosed with cancer as annie's parents and sister were
saying their final farewells shreyan suddenly burst in shouting what are you guys doing you are not
allowed to do this an argument ensued until shrine's brother forced him to leave
but there wasn't enough time left for ami to say goodbye to her sister more than 150 mourners attended the
service during which annie's family noticed that the letters they had placed in her
coffin had been thrown onto the floor it took some convincing to get shreen to agree to return them
a second memorial service was scheduled for the following day but hostilities between shreyan and the
hindujas continued when shreyan threatened to cancel the event he later agreed to let it proceed on the
condition that army not be allowed to address the mourners as he was upset by her behavior at the
funeral on sunday november 21 annie's family were informed that in addition to the
arrests of mongeni cuabe and dumblambo taxi driver zola tongo had also been detained
that same day shreyan's brother prayan phoned vinod urging him not to make the text messages that annie had sent to
sneha public vinod had no idea what prayen was referring to and was left baffled by the call
later that day an article in the independent newspaper quoted a south african police source as
saying there would soon be an explosive revelation in the case following annie's funeral srien hired
the services of renowned british publicist max clifford who had previously represented
high-profile clients including former nfl athlete and convicted felon oj simpson television personality
and record executive simon cowell and english stand-up comedian freddie starr on monday november 22 it was requested
that annie's father vinod attend a meeting at max clifford's office srian wasn't present for the meeting but
his brother prayen was prayen recorded the meeting on his mobile phone during which he asked vinod such
questions as do you like your son-in-law vinod found the entire experience to be
strange and absurd the next day of tuesday november 23 the promised explosive revelation in
annie's murder investigation was published in a number of english newspapers according to reports umziwa madoda cuave
had told cape town police that he and kolile mongeni had been hired because quote there was a husband who
wanted his wife to be killed almost immediately after srian's possible involvement was made public
an article ran in tabloid newspaper the daily mail with the headline father of shot bride
i love srian like a son it was clear to vinod that his recorded conversation with prayen had been used
for the piece srian defended himself publicly telling the sun newspaper i searched high and low for my
perfect partner annie was the one her looks her laughter her personality her spirit everything
about her was right for me why would i want to kill her people who suggest this could not have
seen us together saying i was somehow involved defies logic annie wasn't on any life insurance
policies and we hadn't even made a will i had no motive financial or otherwise i loved her
and still loved her srien also amended some of the details he had previously provided about the
night of the carjacking while he had initially told police that it was annie's idea to visit the cape
flats he now claimed that it had been tongo's suggestion explaining we were on our way home to
our hotel when our driver asked whether we'd like to see some african dancing on our way
it was late and we were hugging each other on the back seat and going through photographs from the
safari trip we'd just been on we weren't really thinking of anything but each other
and sort of said whatever although srian had told police that he'd been forced out of the window of the
moving van 20 minutes after zola tongo was ejected he told the sun that the vehicle had
actually pulled over more like 40 minutes after tongo's release when the carjackers realised the child
locks were activated and the back doors couldn't be opened he had been dragged out of the window
kicking and screaming shreem claimed he was then thrown on the ground and could do nothing but look on
helplessly as the minivan disappeared with his wife inside annie's parents had long harboured
concerns about their daughter's relationship with srian beginning with the couple's engagement
when vinod and nalam were leaving bristol after their initial meeting with srian's
family the duwanis had presented them with a large silver dish known as atari which was stuffed with
fruits and nuts and had a bronze statue of ganesh in the middle in hindu culture this gift is
traditionally presented to symbolise an engagement agreement between two parties
vinod was confused about the gift as he had only met srian twice and would have preferred if the young
man had approached in the traditional way he would have also liked to have spoken
with annie first to see what she wanted not wanting to offend the dewanis he and
nalam accepted the gift and departed for the airport annie had been equally caught off guard
and spent weeks deliberating over what to do finally in early may she decided that
she did want to marry shreyan after her final wedding reception annie had told her parents that she had been
trying to convince shrien to take her to the indian state of kerala for their honeymoon
so his choice of south africa had seemed strange when shreyan had been implicated in
annie's murder annie's best friend and cousin snaya revealed to the hindujas that annie and
srian had been having relationship problems for some time she claimed that during
the months they were in mumbai planning their wedding they had started arguing frequently
annie had accused shreem of being possessive and controlling and in turn shreyan had consistently
reprimanded her over minor issues such as how she placed her dirty clothing in the laundry basket prior to the
couple's engagement some of annie's family members were told that srien had health problems
and was receiving hormone treatments for infertility however sneha told the hindujas that
annie suspected this was a lie constructed by srien to deflect from the fact that he had no sexual interest in her
since the beginning of their relationship they had slept in separate beds leading annie to worry that srien didn't
find her attractive according to sneha annie had repeatedly confided that she regretted getting
engaged to shrien and had tried to call off the wedding on three occasions each time shreen had persuaded her to
change her mind annie expressed concern that she wouldn't find another partner and felt pressured by the amount of
money her parents had already spent shortly before the wedding she sent snayer a text message
that read i don't want to marry him i'm going to be unhappy for the rest of my life
one cannot even hug him we have nothing in common when the wedding ceremonies were
underway annie told sneyer that she and shreyan had decided to act happy even though they weren't he showed no
signs of returning to the funny and loving person he was when they first met instead criticizing annie's
appearance and saying that one of her sarees didn't look very proper and he hoped shreyan's behaviour would
improve after the wedding and agreed to snayer's suggestion to get a divorce if it didn't when annie learned
that srian would be taking her to south africa for their honeymoon she sent a text message to snayer that
read i don't want to go anywhere with him sneya had urged dany to go in an attempt
to resolve the couple's issues and offered to send her money for a flight home if she was still unhappy
a few days into the trip after annie arrived in south africa she messaged snayer to say
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r best fiends in early december vinod hindorcha received a phone call from south african
police requesting that he returned to cape town as a matter of urgency upon his arrival
investigators revealed that due to admissions made by taxi driver zola tongo they had
reason to believe that srien had indeed orchestrated annie's murder according to tongo when he first picked
the couple up from the cape town airport and dropped them at the cape grace hotel
annie went inside to the hotel lobby srien stayed behind and asked tongo if he knew anyone who
could help him take a client off the scene the pair had a brief conversation in which shreyan said he wanted to kill a
woman who was arriving later that evening he was willing to pay a hit man fifteen
thousand rand or the equivalent of 2185 australian dollars at the time in addition to paying a 5 000
rand finders fee to tongo he also offered to pay using american dollars if that was preferable
although tongo had virtually no criminal record with the exception of one conviction for
driving without a taxi permit he had agreed to put shreen in touch with someone who could commit the crime
investigators checked security footage captured outside the hotel and confirmed that srian had spoken with
tongo during this time period while lani waited at the lobby's check-in desk shreyan then went inside to join his
wife but soon came back outside where he spoke to tongo for a further nine minutes
tongo claimed that after leaving the cape grace he called the protea coliseum hotel
where his friend monday mblambo worked at the reception desk cctv footage showed blumbo had answered
the call followed by tongo's arrival at the protea coliseum approximately 25 minutes later
there tongo greeted him blombo by placing both hands on top of his head a gesture that indicated cause for
celebration and the two left to speak together according to tongo he had informed him
blombo of shreen's request and dumb blumbo said he knew a suitable person who could
carry out the crime the conversation lasted just two and a half minutes then blombo put tongo in touch with his
old friend umziwa madoda kwabe that evening tongo had phoned kwabe to ask if he could do the job
kwabe was with his friend kolile mungeni when the call came through and the two men agreed to
participate in the plot [Music] the same night that tongo conspired with kwabe annie and srien had dined at a
waterfront restaurant located a short walk from their hotel a waitress told investigators that she had approached
the couple's table at around 9 20 pm annie was sitting there alone and explained that her husband had
left to make a business call cctv footage from this time captured shreyan walking the short distance
back to the couple's hotel room where he had left his mobile phone his phone records revealed that he had
received a text message from tongo though its contents are unknown srian called tongo and the pair spoke
for five minutes and 26 seconds tongo told investigators that during the call he updated srian on the progress of the
hit and confirmed that the hitmen wished to be paid in rand he then agreed to help sri and exchange
some u.s currency into south african rand the following day at 11 56 a.m on saturday november 13
cctv footage from the cape grace hotel captured tongo picking shreyan up in his minivan
the pair then drove to a jewelry store called golden touch jewellers where shreyan exchanged 1500 us
dollars for 10 200 rand police later confirmed this exchange with the store's owner
tongo told investigators that on the drive back to the hotel he and srian discussed the plans for the
murder and determined the order in which the two of them would be released from the
hijacked minivan with this new information from tongo south african authorities intended to prosecute srian for annie's
murder they asked dany's father vinod whether he would agree to a plea deal for tongo
in which he would plead guilty and testify against shreyan in exchange for a reduced
sentence vinod agonised over the decision he believed that if tongo was responsible for hiring the man who
killed his daughter then he deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison however after much consideration
vinod agreed to the request and tongo's plea deal was formalized on december 5 2010
on tuesday december 7 zalatongo appeared in the western cape high court to make his plea
stating i knew that mungeni and kwabe would not harm shree and dawani and that he would be dropped off at some
further point i also knew that the deceased would be kidnapped robbed and murdered by kwabe and mongani
tongo pleaded guilty to kidnapping robbery with aggravating circumstances murder and obstructing the
administration of justice as per his agreed plea deal he was sentenced to 18 years in prison immediately after
tongo's testimony the south african police service forwarded an arrest warrant for shri and
dawani to the foreign assistance division of scotland yard in london word about the warrant reached
shrane at his family home and by the end of the day he handed himself in to police
and was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder three days later shreyan appeared in the
united kingdom's high court he was granted bail on the condition that he wear an electronic
tag comply with the curfew and report daily to police pending extradition hearings which were
scheduled for early 2011. srian maintained his innocence with his lawyer issuing a public statement that
read my client is devastated by annie's murder and the false allegations that have been
made against him and welcomes the chance to clear his name through the courts shriyan's arrest was major news in south
africa where the nation's media accused him of trying to exploit the country's higher murder rate by having
his wife killed there almost six months earlier south africa had hosted the world's most prestigious
international soccer competition the fifa world cup prompting over three hundred thousand
tourists to flock to the country annie's murder reignited old concerns that south africa would
be perceived by foreigners as a dangerous place some of the nation's public figures
shared their concerns with a representative from the congress of south african trade unions
stating annie hinduja's murder appears to have been planned on the assumption that hijacking and murder
are believed to be so commonplace that it would be easy to stage a murder and then claim it was another normal
criminal act on wednesday december 15 another twist in the case emerged when a german man who lived in england's
midlands region came forward claiming to have had sex with sri and dewani on three separate occasions
leopold eliza a 39 year old sex worker known as the german master alleged that srian had paid him
1100 pounds in cash for his services between september 2009 and april 2010 one month before srian and dany got
engaged according to leopold shreen had told him about his forthcoming wedding to annie
stating that although she was a nice girl he needed to quote find a way out shreen was worried that his family would
disown him if he called off the wedding these allegations led to speculation that srien's sexuality could have
motivated him to order annie's murder his lawyer labelled leopold's claims as completely false and ridiculous and his
publicist max clifford stated sri and dewani has never had a sexual relationship with a
man in his life in cape town prosecutors negotiated with the suspects they already had in custody
and struck a plea deal with one of the two accused carjackers umzi wama doda kwabe
kwabe had initially pleaded not guilty to annie's murder claiming he hadn't been the one who shot
her he changed his mind upon learning that under south african law being a co-conspirator to the crimes he
had already confessed to made him equally guilty of annie's murder in exchange for a reduced sentence of 25
years with a 17-year minimum quabe agreed to testify against shreyan and plead guilty to charges of
kidnapping illegal possession of a firearm robbery with aggravating circumstances
and murder cuabe confessed that on november 12 2010 he received a phone call from his old friend
monday mblambo who said that a job needed to be done he then spoke directly with zola tongo
who explained that someone had ordered a hit and cuabae subsequently recruited his
friend kolile mongeni to help the following day the trio met up and tongo told kwabe and mongani
that a husband wanted his wife killed in a staged hijacking in exchange for 1500 rand
they agreed that the husband would be unharmed and that the wife would be kidnapped
robbed and killed payment for the hit was to be left inside the glove box of the minivan
cuave told investigators that during the course of the hijacking he drove the minivan while mangini sat
in the front passenger seat brandishing the gun after robbing the newlyweds and forcing tongo and shreyan from the
vehicle mongenie shot and killed annie from the front passenger seat cuabei and mongeni then dumped the car
and kwabe gave the gun to a friend for safe keeping monday blombo confessed to acting as an
intermediary between tongo and kwabe but prosecutors believed his role had been minimal and therefore he wasn't charged
with any crime instead blombo was offered immunity in exchange for testifying at srian's
trial as well as that of kolilei mongani the only one of the south african suspects
who had refused the plea deal and elected to plead not guilty meanwhile in england proceedings were
underway to determine whether sri and dewani would have to return to south africa
to face the accusations levelled against him south african authorities argued that
srian's alleged involvement in the crime explained why he had employed a local taxi driver
instead of using his hotel's airport shuttle service and also explained how he had escaped
from the hijackers unscathed in response shreyan supporters stated it was ludicrous to believe
he had asked the first person he met in cape town to kill his wife a preliminary extradition hearing was
initially scheduled for february 2011. but srian failed to appear citing mental illness
the court was told that he had consumed 46 different pills though sran's doctor denied this had
been a suicide attempt two months later on april 20 2011 shreyan was detained at a bristol
psychiatric hospital under the mental health act his defence team continued to fight the extradition
process claiming that their client was mentally unfit to stand trial they also argued that srien would
face a violent sexual assault under the risk of hiv infection in a south african prison
nevertheless on august 10 2011 british judge howard riddle ruled that sri and should be extradited
stating that he had confidence in the south african justice system the paperwork was sent to the uk's
immigration minister and then home secretary theresa may for final approval the hinduja family presented a petition
featuring more than 11 000 signatures to theresa may urging her to agree to the extradition
on september 28 2011 may agreed that the extradition order was valid and that srien should be sent to
cape town despite south african officials making assurances that srien's health would be protected his legal team
continued to insist he was not mentally fit to make the journey ultimately england's high court agreed
that srian should remain in the uk until his health improved the drawn-out process took an emotional
toll on the hinduja family on november 13 2011 they held a candlelit vigil in their hometown of mariastod to
commemorate the one-year anniversary of annie's murder while the extradition hearings continued
on march 29 2012 bbc current affairs program panorama broadcast an hour-long feature
about the hijacking case titled the honeymoon murder in the episode experts examined the
evidence collected by south african police and discovered a number of inconsistencies particularly in relation
to the state's forensic evidence annie's autopsy stated that she had likely been cowering in a defensive
posture at the time of her death but when uk home office pathologist dr richard shepherd
viewed the case file he found no evidence to indicate such a thing instead dr shepard believed that the
lack of blood spatter on the back of the passenger seat suggested annie had been sitting up and
leaning forward at the time she was killed additionally the two hijackers had each
presented a different story as to how annie was killed upon kalile mungeni's arrest he had
claimed that umziwa madoda kwabe had approached dany via the rear passenger door
and shot her during a tussle over her handbag kwabe denied this version of events
claiming that mungueni had shot annie while he was sitting in the front passenger seat
a claim that was later deemed to be incompatible with the forensic evidence south african investigators had
concluded that annie had been killed by a bullet fired from between 5 and 10 centimeters
away this was contested on panorama by mark mystaglio a leading firearms expert at the uk's
forensic science service he found that the size and pattern of the gunshot and residue indicated a firing position of
less than five centimeters mystaglio suspected that the gun went off when pressed right up against danny
perhaps during a struggle angela shaw one of the uk's leading experts on gunshot residue
told panorama that the south african police had failed to test the hijacker's clothing
and much of the taxi for gunshot residue this meant she was unable to determine where the shooter had been positioned
at the time and he was shot several gaps in zalatongo's story were also pointed out
including his claim that shreyan had said he wanted a client killed instead of simply naming annie as his
victim commentators from south africa's criminal justice system expressed concern over how quickly
tongo's plea deal was arranged with a former acting high court judge stating it seemed to me that the national
prosecution service was under some political pressure to get some result as soon as possible
william booth chair of the country's criminal law committee said in south africa things are not
happening as they should i don't believe the prosecution authorities are checking up on their
evidence beforehand it's like we've got to nail somebody so let's just go for it
panorama also spoke to witnesses who had encountered annie and shreen in south africa
the waitress who served the couple on their first night in cape town stated that they showed
little affection to one another which was unusual compared to other honeymooners she had waited on
simbonile matakazi the local man who had helped shrine call police after the hijacking
said that he believed srien's distress after the crime had been genuine simbonile had been
surprised when he found out that sreyan was accused of being involved with the murder plot
annie's family were upset by the panorama episode viewing it as a trial by media before
srian had had his day in court while kolile mungeni awaited trial in south africa
he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor court proceedings were delayed as he
underwent surgery and recommenced in august 2012. by then mongeni was significantly
underweight and required the use of a walking frame his lawyers claimed the confession he
had made during his first police interview shouldn't be admissible in court as it
was made under duress after mungeni had been tortured by the police the trial judge robert henney found no
evidence of assault or coercion by the police and ruled that the confession was admissible
umziwa madoda kwabe and monday mblambo both testified at the trial that they and mungani
had come to be involved in the hijacking via taxi driver zola tongo kwabe said he
and mungeni had first met up with tongo on the afternoon before the murder to discuss their plan for the hijacking
this was confirmed by two eyewitnesses who saw the three men sitting in a car together on the day in question
kwabe told the court that on the night of the hijacking moongenie had shot annie after tongo and
shreyan had been thrown out of the minivan he and mongani then collected their payment from the passenger seat
only to find it was five thousand rand short of the amount they had requested the two then retrieved the
spent cartridge and threw it down a drain before abandoning the vehicle a long time friend of mungeni's named
lukaya bessela testified that in the early hours after the murder mongenie had arrived at his house with
tongo's stolen mobile phone later that day mongini confessed to lakaya that he had robbed and shot a woman
two days later the police found mongini in lakaya's home where annie's armani watch and white
gold bracelet had been hidden in the roof mongenie claimed that the witnesses were
lying and denied having any involvement in the crime instead providing an alibi for the night
of the murder judge henny ultimately rejected the alibi asserting that it didn't match the
evidence presented by the prosecution [Music] he found mangini guilty of all charges
except kidnapping citing that kidnapping was part of the murder plot and would therefore be a duplication
conviction mungeni was sentenced to life in prison in england shrine's defence team
continued to argue that their client still wasn't well enough to be extradited to south africa
in july 2013 judge howard riddle again ruled that sri and be extradited but srian appealed the decision
three months later several judges questioned whether it might be unjust and oppressive to send shreem
back to south africa before his mental health issues had cleared yet another hearing took place on
january 31 2014 but on this occasion the judges rejected shrine's appeal and upheld
judge riddle's ruling annie's father vinod had flown to england from sweden to attend the hearing
while his wife nalam was forced to stay home as her health had suffered significantly
following her daughter's murder vinod later wrote of his relief at the ruling in his book
annie dawani a father's story quote it had been a long three and a half year wait
a wretched time for us there had been upset after upset endless tears and the suffering
torment and pain my wonderful family had endured amounted to nothing short of persecution
all we had ever asked for was the truth the one person who could help us had remained six thousand miles away from
his accusers for all that time now the wait was over authorities in south africa were
required to make special arrangements for shrines return he was to be flown to cape town on a
private charter plane at the cost of almost 3 million south african rand or the equivalent of approximately 247
000 australian dollars rather than being held on remand he would be staying at the volkenberg
psychiatric hospital where a private room would be redecorated in anticipation of his
arrival on april 7 2014 shreyan dewani arrived in cape town where he was arrested and charged with
conspiracy to commit kidnapping robbery with aggravating circumstances kidnapping
murder and obstructing the administration of justice he pleaded not guilty to all charges
shrien's trial commenced six months later on october 6 2014 with the judge jeanette traverso
presiding in a highly unusual move proceedings began with srian's defence council reading a statement prepared by
their client who wanted to explain to the court why he was pleading not guilty in the statement srian spoke of his love
for rani and his commitment to their relationship while also acknowledging that they'd had some disagreements prior
to their wedding he outlined the events of their honeymoon up to and including the night they were
hijacked and detailed the ongoing trauma he'd experienced following annie's death quote
as a consequence of the traumatic experience which resulted in the loss of my wife
i have been hospitalized for over three years and suffered from severe post-traumatic
stress disorder this and the resultant flashbacks nightmares and anxiety attacks have affected my
memory and impacted on my ability to precisely and chronologically recall events
concerning this terrible incident shriyan's statement also addressed his sexuality
which had been discussed in a number of tabloid articles in the years following the crime he explained that he
was bisexual and had slept with both women and men including german sex worker leopold eliza who had
previously spoken with the press about his encounters with shran as srian had steadfastly denied these
allegations for almost four years this admission came as a shock to many including the hinduja family
the prosecution considered srian's sexuality as the motive behind dany's murder they presented evidence that srien had
maintained a user profile at a dating website for gay and bisexual men called gaydar since august 2004
computer forensic analysts had found that srian had logged onto the site twice on november
12 2010 while he and annie were at johannesburg airport waiting for their flight to cape
town he had also accessed the site for three hours on november 15 2010 less than 48 hours
after annie's murder an examination of shrien's laptop had also revealed 53 emails between himself and a man who
wasn't named in court some of which were sexually explicit while this evidence was being presented
judge traverso suddenly intervened and stated that srian's sexuality was irrelevant to the
murder charge as he had already addressed the matter in his opening statement she banned the prosecution from
presenting their next witness german sex worker leopold eliza who had intended to testify about his sexual
encounters with shran the prosecution then called annie's cousin sneya to the stand
although judge traverso had deemed most of her planned testimony to be inadmissible sneyer discussed some of
the text messages she had received from annie in the months preceding her death and spoke about shreyan's strange
behavior in the days following annie's murder in regards to srian's initial claim that
it had been annie who requested the couple drive through the cape flats sneyer stated that annie would never ask
such a thing by this point taxi driver zola tongo had already served almost four years for
his role in orchestrating annie's murder in accordance with the plea deal he'd struck with prosecutors
tongo testified that srian had approached him about organizing a murder immediately after the couple arrived at
the cape grace hotel on friday november 12 2010 congo explained that his brand monde
blumbo had put him in touch with umziwa madoda kwabe who tongo had then planned the murder
with he also told the court how he had helped shreyan exchange his money to pay for
the hit tongo testified that on saturday november 13 he was scheduled to pick up shreyan and
danny at 7 30 pm but was delayed by about half an hour an agitated sounding shreyan had called
to ask where he was insisting the hit had to take place that night the original plan was for kwabe and
mongani to carjack the vehicle earlier in the evening but the two men were delayed due to a
transportation issue when tongo dropped shreen and annie at the surfside restaurant for dinner
annie had walked inside while srien had pulled tongo aside demanding to know why the
hit hadn't yet taken place he threatened to kill tongo if the plan didn't proceed before following
annie into the restaurant srian then called tongo during the meal and tongo reassured him that the murder
would take place after dinner when shreyan and dany were back in tongo's minivan phone records showed
that tongo had sent sri in a text message at 10 40 p.m in which he claimed to have asked shreyan where he had
hidden the 15 000 rand for the hijackers according to tongo shreyan had texted back
to say the money was in an envelope in a pouch behind the passenger seat at approximately 11 pm tongo
texted kwabe to let him know they were about to arrive in guguletu the hijacking had taken place shortly
after and tongo had then walked to a police station to report the incident he told the court that it was only when
the police were driving him back to the cape grace hotel that he overheard them mentioned that
annie was srian's wife tongo claimed he didn't know that the pair were married as shreyan had told him the murder
victim was a client of his at the cape grace hotel tongo claimed that he and srian spoke
intermittently over the course of the night with shreen approaching to ask whether the job had been done
on tuesday november 15 shrine had asked him to come to the hotel to collect his five thousand rand
finder's fee they met near a corridor in the lobby and shreyan gave tongo an envelope in a plastic bag
tongo went into a bathroom to check the envelope only to find it contained one thousand
rand instead of the five thousand they'd agreed to he claimed he tried to find australian
but never saw or spoke to him again during cross-examination the defense examined a number of holes in tongo's
story despite his claim that he had no further contact with shreyan after the financial transaction phone
records indicated that shreyan had made a 54 second phone call to tongo one hour and 40 minutes after this
incident cctv footage also appeared to refute tongo's assertion that srien had called
him in an agitated state around 7 30 pm on the night of the murder security cameras in the lobby of the
cape grace hotel had captured sri and making this call but he appeared calm and was standing
right next to annie the whole time cctv footage also disproved tongo's claim that srien had accosted him outside the
surfside restaurant after annie went inside alone security cameras had captured srian
walking ahead of annie who was trailing behind and a waiter had confirmed to bbc panorama
that srien had entered the restaurant first the defense insisted that srian had only
ever contacted tongo to book taxi appointments as he and annie had liked his friendly personality
and were happy to have him chauffeur them around cape town in regards to the us dollars that tongo
had helped sri in exchange the defense said that shreyan planned to use the money to book a scenic
helicopter trip to surprise annie which cost around 10 000 rand tongo was helping him arrange the
helicopter ride which explained why shreen had met with tongo the night before the murder
as well as the various text messages sent between the two monday in blombo the man who had
introduced tongo to the hijackers was also called to testify on behalf of the prosecution
blumpo stated that tongo had told him that a husband wanted his wife killed which contradicted tongo's claim that he
didn't know annie and shreyan were married blumbo had been offered immunity in exchange for his testimony
as investigators thought his role in the plot was minimal however while he was on the stand it was
revealed that his involvement went further than police had initially believed on the night of the murder cctv footage
from the protea coliseum hotel wherein blombo worked recorded him talking on the phone to tongo
and making several statements that sounded as though he was in charge such as this is how it's going to happen
during cross-examination blombo's evidence unraveled and he started to contradict himself on
every aspect of his earlier police statements and the testimony he gave at kolilee
mongini's trial in the end judge traverso rejected blombo's immunity and declared him to be
a self-confessed liar regardless south africa's national prosecution service never brought any
charges against him umziwa madoda kwabe's testimony resulted in further inconsistencies
kwabe claimed that ten thousand rand had been stashed behind the passenger seat as payment for the hit
which he and mungueni had split however mongani claimed they only received four thousand rand
which they had stolen from srian at gunpoint in further contrast srin claimed that
the hijackers had robbed him of between five and six thousand rand of all these claims the evidence
supported mongini's version of events as he was found to have spent just under 2
000 rand on shoes and clothes the day after the murder the prosecution's case was also hindered
by issues with the forensic evidence cuabe asserted that mongeni had shot annie from the front passenger seat
which the prosecution conceded wasn't forensically possible a police ballistics expert who had
reconstructed the layout of tongo's minivan had made significant errors by using a
different vehicle entirely which resulted in the defense deriding him during cross-examination
the exact details surrounding annie's murder remained a mystery on november 17 2014
the prosecution rested their case and australian's defense team immediately applied to have the trial
dismissed under section 174 of south africa's criminal procedure act this statute allows the court to return
a verdict of not guilty at the end of the prosecution's case if it's deemed there's no evidence that
the accused committed a crime judge traverso considered the submission and on december 8
she ordered that the case against sri and dewani be dismissed having found that there was
insufficient evidence upon which a reasonable court could convict him in explaining her conclusion judge
traverso noted that tongo was the only witness who could directly connect srian to the
crime but his testimony contained too many inaccuracies and lies to be deemed credible
she noted that tongo blombo and kwabe were all intelligent individuals capable of twisting their testimonies to
implicate shrien judge traverso added that a person couldn't be prosecuted without credible
evidence simply in the hope that he might incriminate himself while on the stand in conclusion
she stated regrettably there are many unanswered questions about what exactly happened on the
fateful night i realized that there is a strong public opinion that the accused should be
placed on his defense i have taken note of that i have also taken note of the plight of the hindujas
i have however taken an oath of office to uphold the rule of law and to administer justice without fear
favor or prejudice that i cannot do if i permit public opinion to influence my application of the law
in the light of the analysis of the state case there is no evidence upon which a
reasonable court acting carefully can convict the accused [Music] with the trial dismissed sri and iwani
was free to go [Music] annie's family were devastated by the decision in vinod hinduja's book he wrote
if i had not been sitting down my legs would have buckled and i would have fallen to the floor
i looked at my family and saw their pain everybody was beginning to move around me
but everything was silent in my head i saw dewani walk towards the exit of the dock
and disappeared down the stairs refusing to look at us as he passed they let him slip out of
the western cape court without telling us what happened outside court annie's sister army
told the press today we feel as a family that the justice system has failed us and we are deeply disappointed we came
here looking for answers and we came here looking for the truth and all we got was more questions
we waited patiently for four years to hear what really happened to annie the hope of actually finding
that out has kept us as a family going unfortunately we believe that this right has now been taken away from us because
we never heard the full story of srian we heard that srian has led a double life and
that annie knew nothing about it and we just wish that shreen had been honest with us
and especially with annie not ever knowing what happened to my dearest little sister on the 13th of
november 2010 that's going to haunt me my family my brother my parents for the rest of
our lives prior to srian's trial the hindujas had requested that an inquest into annie's
death be opened in the uk in february 2015 the inquest commenced in london's coroner's court
but senior coroner andrew walker determined that the matter wouldn't proceed any further he stated
the fact that there are differing accounts of how mrs dewani came by her death does not in my view mean that the
matters have not already been sufficiently established in public proceedings coroner walker said he was prohibited
from reaching a conclusion that contradicted the findings of the south african courts
but indicated that the inquest could be reopened in the future if new evidence came to light
sri and dewani returned to the uk where he maintained a low profile his family refused to speak to the media
other than to say they were glad that srian's name had been cleared in srian's hometown of bristol public
opinion was divided as to whether or not he was innocent some members of the community verbally
abused the journalists who gathered outside the dewani family home in the days following the trial while
others shouted the word killer in the direction of their house the driveway of their property was paint
bombed and a monopoly inspired get out of jail free card was left by the gates kolile mungeni died in the hospital ward
of goodwood prison as a result of his brain tumor after serving just two years of his life sentence
in september 2016 intended prosecution witness leopold eliza the sex worker who had previously engaged in sexual
activity with sri and dewani died by suicide a police investigation revealed that
leopold had been suffering from stress as a result of the trial in 2018 it was reported that srian was
in a relationship with a man and to the pair were living together in west london
on september 6 2019 zola tongo became eligible for parole after serving half of his 18-year
sentence he submitted his parole application in may 2019 with the board expected to make a
decision the following month as south africa employs a restorative justice program
to help inform parole hearings and his father vinod returned to the country to speak with
tongo details of their meeting haven't been publicly revealed but south african newspaper iowell
quoted vinod as stating we didn't get what we wanted he's still not telling the truth
as of the release of this episode there has been no news regarding tongo's possible parole
monday mblambo has never been charged in relation to annie's murder and umadota kwabe remains behind bars
to express the hinduja family's struggle with grief and to the criminal justice system in the years that followed
annie's murder vinod hindocha wrote a book titled annie dawani a father's story towards the book's conclusion vinod
expressed his relief that annie's marriage was never legally formalized writing you remained a hinduja
one of us not one of his the month after the book was published vinod was fixing an elevator near his
hometown of marius dodd when the chain slipped sending him hurtling to the ground
the force of the drop caused his right arm to be ripped off just below the shoulder vinod was
airlifted to hospital where doctors managed to reattach his arm after 16 hours of surgery
following the operation he underwent physiotherapy to aid in his recovery vinod spoke to the daily mail about the
experience stating after the operation i had a lot of pain everywhere but i could feel somebody dressing the
pain maybe it is my imagination but it was annie i believe she was there taking care of
me i still believe she is here she is here until she gets justice [Music] you

Case 153: Anni Hindocha

Approximately one hour later, at 11:12 pm, a 33-year-old government employee named Simbonile Matokazi was returning to his home near the Cape Flats township of Khayelitsha.

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research – Holly Boyd Writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production, scoring – Mike Migas and Andrew Joslyn

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-153-anni-hindocha

Brief Summary

Annie Dewani was murdered during her honeymoon; her husband Shreyan was accused of orchestrating the crime but was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

Key points

A Whirlwind Romance. Annie and Srian's long-distance relationship blossoms, leading to an engagement in Paris.
Tragic Turn of Events. Annie and Srian's honeymoon takes a dark turn when they are carjacked in Cape Town.
The Aftermath. Annie's body is discovered, leading to a heartbreaking revelation for her family.
Shreyan's Strange Behavior. Annie's family notices Shreyan's odd conduct during the funeral preparations.
Shreyan's Defense. Shreyan publicly defends himself against accusations of involvement in Annie's murder.
Annie's Last Messages. Annie confides in her friend about her doubts regarding her marriage.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Annie is never coming back.

Annie's mother expresses despair after hearing the news.

19:32WatchAug 15, 2020

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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