Shrien Dewani extradition hearing begins

Mr Dewani appeared in court this morning but was released on bail and allowed to leave before the morning session was finished to return to the hospital in Bristol where he is being treated for post traumatic stress disorder and depressive illness.

The case against his extradition, laid out this afternoon by his representative Clare Montgomery QC, centres around the danger of South African prisons, the state of Mr Dewani’s mental health and an alleged abuse of process by the South African authorities. The claim will be that he would not get a fair trial because of comments they have already made to the media.

Experts speaking by video link from South Africa this afternoon described South African prisons as overcrowded, with prisoners often sharing single cells, lying on mattresses on the floor because there were not enough beds, of having no implements to eat their food with and of receiving inadequate or no medical treatment.

But the two women, who both worked at one time at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, said rape and sexual violence against prisoners was underreported for fear reprisal but was widely believed to be a major part of life in prisons. One of the women, Amanda Dissel, was asked by Ms Montgomery if rape was an inevitable part of the correctional culture. Ms Dissel said that the fear of sexual violence is associated by many with imprisonment in South Africa.

She said there was even an advertising campaign which said “don’t drink and drive or you will be raped in prison”.

Sasha Gear, also giving expert evidence, said that Mr Dewani would be particularly vulnerable. She said he was depicted as “youthful, good looking and well-preserved”. She said he was a first time offender, was unfamiliar with the place he would be incarcerated and that his alleged crime could put him at increased risk because it did not involve his own use of violence.

“Using weapons against other men make you worthy of manly respect,” Ms Gear said. She said connections made with homosexuality, which he adamantly denies, also put him at greater risk.

Extradition

Mr Dewani is fighting extradition to South Africa where he faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances and obstructing the administration of justice.

He and his wife, Anni Hindoucha, were on honeymoon in South Africa when she was killed last November. It is alleged that he paid for a contract killing which took place in the Cape Town township, Gugulethu. One person has been found guilty and another two are awaiting trial.

In court today it was claimed that a witness said Mr Dewani had told him that he had to get engaged, that he could not get out of it. That she was a nice, lovely girl but that he had “to find a way out of it”.

The hearing is expected to last until Thursday and will then be adjourned until July for psychiatric reports.