The British newlywed accused of hiring a hitman to kill his bride was back home on bail amid claims in the High Court that the “net was closing in” on him.
Wealthy businessman Shrien Dewani, 30, was released from Wandsworth Prison after his family came up with £250,000 security.
The move came despite prosecutors telling the High Court there was significant new evidence demonstrating a “very powerful” case against Dewani, who is wanted by South African police for conspiracy to murder his new wife Anni, 28.
Prosecutor Ben Watson said “the net was closing in” and he should not be granted bail “even on the most stringent conditions”.
Dewani, from Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, faces electronic tagging, home curfew and having to report daily to the police pending further extradition hearings.
His family welcomed the judge’s decision, saying in a joint statement: “We are all delighted that the courts have consistently upheld Shrien Dewani’s right to bail.”
His wife was found dead in the back of an abandoned taxi in a Cape Town township with a single bullet wound to her neck on November 13.
Dewani was arrested this week after the South African authorities issued a warrant as the first stage to seeking his extradition.
The warrant came after taxi driver Zola Tongo accused Dewani of offering to pay 15,000 rand (£1,400) for his wife’s murder and ordering it to appear like a bungled carjacking as they drove through the notorious township of Gugulethu.
At Friday’s court hearing, Mr Watson said CCTV footage of meetings between Dewani and Tongo, without Dewani’s wife present, supported the taxi driver’s account of the murder conspiracy. Other footage showed Tongo “surreptitiously” receiving “a white, plastic packet” from Dewani three days after the murder.
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