Nov 22, 2010
A Swedish bride who was carjacked, robbed and slain while honeymooning in South Africa was set up by her taxi driver, who was working with the attackers, police said.
Driver Zola Tongo, 31, appeared in court in Cape Town this morning on murder, kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges, according to media reports. He is the third suspect arrested in the shooting death of Anni Dewani.
"He is the driver of the vehicle, of the taxi," National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said, according to TheLocal.se, a website providing Swedish news in English.
The 28-year-old Dewani, a part-time model who grew up in Mariestad in central Sweden, had recently married British businessman Shrien Dewani, 30, in a ceremony in Mumbai, India. The newlyweds were on their honeymoon in South Africa when they were carjacked on Nov. 13, authorities said.
The couple had dined at a restaurant outside Cape Town and were on their way back to their hotel in the city when they asked their driver to take them through the township of Gugulethu so they could get a look at "the real Africa," according to the Daily Mail, a British newspaper.
The Telegraph, another British paper, quoted local media as reporting that police believe Tongo agreed to the request, then made a call to a friend.
Two armed men ambushed the car as it stopped at an intersection and Tongo was pushed out of the car. Shrien Dewani told authorities he was pushed out of the car at gunpoint about an hour later in a neighborhood.
The husband, who was not hurt, flagged down a passing motorist, who drove him to a police station.
The taxi was found the next morning in an impoverished township with Anni Dewani dead in the back. She had been shot and robbed of a Giorgio Armani wristwatch, a white gold and diamond bracelet, a handbag and BlackBerry phone, TheLocal said.
Mzwamadoda Qwabe, 26, and Xolile Mngeni, 23, were arrested last week, South Africa's the Mail & Guardian newspaper said. Tonga was arrested Saturday. He and Qwabe appeared today in Wynberg Regional Court with Qwabe. They were ordered held until a hearing set for Nov. 29.
Shrien Dewani, from Bristol, England, said that he had had booked Tongo through his secretary and that he driver had met them at the Cape Town airport, the Telegraph said.Dewani said that after the carjacking, he had some doubts about the driver, but his suspicions were allayed by Tongo's apparent willingness to help police.
"Initially I had a lot of suspicion about the driver. But he spent all of Sunday [Nov. 14] helping the police and was able to answer all the police's questions," Dewani said, according to the Daily Mail. "By the end of it, I quite liked him."
Tongo had previously insisted he was not involved.
"This is a very bad situation and I am in fear of my life. I did not do it. I have done nothing wrong," he said, according to the Telegraph.
Source: AOL
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