Surprise bid to put Shrien Dewani on trial in Britain

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/21/shrien-dewani-uk-trial

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Lawyers for Shrien Dewani, the honeymoon murder suspect, are to ask British prosecutors to consider bringing a case against him in a dramatic attempt to avoid a trial in South Africa.

Next month they plan to tell the high court that they want the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to assemble a case against Dewani, who is accused of ordering the killing of his wife, Anni.

Anni, 28, was kidnapped and shot dead in the back of a taxi in Cape Town in November 2010. Lawyers will argue in their appeal to prevent him being extradited that millionaire Dewani, who is from Bristol, should be tried in Britain because of his mental state.

Dewani is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder at a UK clinic. A British judge ruled in July that while he was not yet fit to plead, the severity of the allegations meant the court had to place greater weight on the obligations under the UK's extradition agreement.

Police in South Africa claim that Dewani hired hitmen to kill his bride in Cape Town, but the businessman has always maintained that he was forced out of a taxi by thugs who hijacked and killed his wife.

On Thursday a <em>Panorama</em> investigation revealed the concerns of a leading forensic scientist over the quality of the police evidence against Dewani. Ballistics experts claim that the bullet which killed Anni may have rebounded off her hand and hit her chest by accident "during a struggle". A post-mortem examination showed that the bullet had struck her left hand and gone through her chest, causing fatal neck injuries.

At the high court on 22 October, lawyers intend to ask that the CPS proceed with a prosecution to limit further delays in a case that is nearing its third anniversary. They also argue this would be beneficial to Anni's family, who last week accused the BBC of playing "judge and jury" in the documentary.

Melanie Riley, a campaigner with Friends Extradited, which is pushing for changes in extradition law, said: "It is plainly wrong to extradite someone suffering such severe mental health impairment that they are unfit to plead in the jurisdiction. This would leave the defendant languishing in a foreign jail or secure medical facility indefinitely, while awaiting a recovery which common sense suggests would take much longer to achieve, if ever, as a result.

"Prolonging a trial delay serves neither victim nor defendant. Whatever the medical facilities abroad, Britain should only extradite for trial, not treatment."

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