Cape Town, Aug. 12 (ANI): The man accused of killing Anni Dewani, the newly wed Indian-origin woman murdered during her honeymoon in South Africa, has been offered the possibility of freedom if he testifies against her British husband Shrien Dewani.
South Africa's criminal prosecution service has held out the prospect of medical parole if Xolile Mngeni, who is severely ill, pleads guilty and agrees to give evidence against Shrien, who is accused of commissioning Anni's murder.If the alleged hitman, who has brain cancer, testifies against Shrien, he would become the fourth member of the gang to receive a substantial sentence benefit in return for helping the police, The Telegraph reports.It would also mean that all four South African alleged conspirators for Anni's murder would have been lined up to testify against her husband, whom the South African authorities have named as the plot's mastermind.
Shrien, 33, a businessman from Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol, has insisted that he is innocent.
His supporters have previously claimed he is being 'stitched up' by a police force trying to protect its country's tourist industry by portraying his wife's murder as orchestrated by a foreigner.
Last week, a source close to Shrien's legal team expressed deep concern at the South African authorities' use of plea bargains and related legal tactics.
Dewani, 28, and her husband of just two weeks were carjacked as their taxi was passing through Gugulethu town on the outskirts of Cape Town on the evening of November 13, 2010.
Almost immediately, the carjackers allowed the cab's driver, Zola Tongo, to get out of the vehicle. After robbing the honeymooners of their valuables, the gangsters allowed Shrien Dewani to leave, but his wife, Anni, was forced to stay.
Her body was later discovered with a single bullet hole in the neck. (ANI)
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