A man accused of murdering Swedish bride Anni Dewani has been found guilty by a South African court. Dewani, a Swedish woman of Indian decent, was in Cape Town on her honeymoon in November, 2010, when she was shot dead after an apparent carjacking with her newlywed husband. On Monday, a South African judge found 25-year-old Xolile Mngeni guilty of pulling the trigger.
The court heard how Mngeni, a hit man, accepted ZAR 15,000 (EUR 1,328) to carry out the attack. Judge Robert Henney told those in attendance, “I’m satisfied that the accused has committed the crime of murder,” TheLocal.se reports.
In addition to the murder charge, Mngeni was also convicted of illegal possession of a firearm and aggravating circumstances. Judge Henney said that his defence was “riddled with improbabilities, inconsistencies and untruths”.
Mngeni is the second man to be convicted in the case; taxi driver Zola Tongo was given an 18-year sentence after Dewani’s body was recovered from the back seat of his car.
Meanwhile, Anni’s British husband Shrien Dewani continues to deny any involvement with the killing, despite having been named by at least two men jailed in connection to the case. The husband is currently fighting extradition to Cape Town on mental health grounds.