Shrien Dewani, whose wife Anni was murdered on their honeymoon, was the victim of a witch hunt, he has claimed in a letter to the coroner’s court investigating her death.
As the coroner said on Friday that he would not continue the inquest into her death, the Bristol businessman, who was cleared of orchestrating her murder, wrote that the evidence against him was provided by people who had lied in court.
Shrien Dewani said he shared the frustrations felt by his wife’s family and added that people involved in Anni’s killing had been allowed to “literally get away with murder”.
“I would like to make clear that I have a significant number of questions which remain unanswered about the night that my wife and I were kidnapped and Anni was tragically shot after being taken away from me,” he wrote.
The couple were driving through the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010 when Anni was shot. She was found in a taxi the next morning with a gunshot wound to the neck.
Three people were jailed for their part in the killing and her husband was suspected of involvement. But a South African judge threw out the case against him, saying it was based on the witness testimony of a “self-confessed liar” who “does not know where the truth ends and a lie begins”.
In his letter to the north London coroner’s court, Shrien Dewani wrote that deals had been done offering immunity from prosecution in return for giving evidence against him at trial.
“It is the evidence of these proven liars that led to a witch hunt against me and the resulting failure to pursue the truth of what happened that night. It is clear that none of the evidence provided by these persons was corroborated in any meaningful way. This has allowed the individuals concerned to literally get away with murder.
He added that those responsible for his wife’s murder “need to answer questions have failed to do so in court and have not been brought to justice by the South African authorities”.
He declined to provide answers to the inquest, saying the list of questions did not help establish why Anni was shot.
And, while he said he understood the frustrations of Anni’s family, the Hindochas, he had already explained everything he knew about the circumstances surrounding her death in a document read out to his trial.
Shrien Dewani did not attend the hearing and the letter was circulated among those representing Anni Dewani. Although the letter was not made public at the hearing, Shrien Dewani’s family made a copy of it available.
The coroner, Andrew Walker, said that the inquest could not continue without new evidence coming to light. Anni’s family argued that many questions remained unanswered.
But Walker said: “I don’t have sufficient cause to resume an inquest. In these proceedings, the matter will now rest. 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.”
If new evidence did emerge, he said the family could write to the attorney general and request that the inquest be reopened.
