Suspect had Dewani photos - witness
2012-09-04 14:38
Cape Town - A married couple, seen in digital photos in a suspect's possession, were the same people he saw on a subsequent television broadcast, a witness told the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday.
The State witness, 26, said a television image he saw some time after 14 November 2010, showed the same people he had seen on a digital camera in his friend Xolile Mngeni's possession.
"It's the same I saw on television as time went on. It was alleged [on television]... that a tourist had been shot dead."
Anni Dewani was killed in Gugulethu on 13 November 2010, in an apparent hijacking while on honeymoon with her husband Shrien.
Mngeni is on trial and has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Photos
The witness, a friend of the accused, cannot be identified because of a court order to protect him and his family.
He testified on Monday that he saw Mngeni at about noon on 14 November 2010, with a silver digital camera, two phones and two watches.
The witness asked to see the camera, turned it on and saw a photo of a smartly dressed couple, the man was in a suit and the woman wore what looked like a wedding dress. He saw numerous other photos of the couple.
On Tuesday, the defence cross-examined the witness on his testimony.
Qalisile Dayimani asked him how he came to speak to the police about the murder.
The witness said he had heard that Mngeni was on television but did not know why, and asked a friend.
"He then told me something about Indians being robbed or Indian culture... to cut the story short, I am the person who phoned police and told them I know something."
Denial
Mngeni's friend spoke to a member of the flying squad who referred him to a lieutenant colonel in the Hawks unit.
Dayimani denied this version of events.
"My instructions are that you met [with Xolile Mngeni only] late on Monday and you were a passenger in a white VW golf," Dayimani put it to the witness, adding that Mngeni would deny they met the day after Anni was murdered.
The witness said it was true he met the accused on Monday [15 November 2010] but he also met him the day before.
Dayimani said his client would deny having a Prada watch or camera with him that day, as the witness had testified.
The witness said he definitely saw the accused with a camera and the watch. Another man could testify that he had also seen the watch, he said.
Firearm
He told the officer that he saw Mngeni and two other men in a silver Volkswagen Sharan outside a friend's house in Sidima Crescent, Khayelitsha, on the day Dewani was killed.
He said he had seen Mngeni with a gun after leaving the vehicle.
He saw him take a gun out of a plastic bag, look at it, put it back and wrap the bag up again.
"Mngeni will deny that he was inside the [silver VW Sharan] vehicle on Saturday, November 13th, 2010," the lawyer said.
"He will deny he had a firearm at the time you said he had."
Dayimani said that convicted killer Mziwamadoda Qwabe testified from the stand that he had kept his firearm at home while meeting Mngeni and shuttle driver Zola Tongo that Saturday.
Qwabe's testimony indicated it would have been impossible for the witness to have seen Mngeni with the gun when it was not there.
The witness replied: "No. I'm not making this up."
The State's next witness would be called after lunch.
- SAPA
