British bride killed ‘after driver lost way’ in Cape Town ghetto

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Ian Evans|In Cape Town12 April 2012

The husband of a British woman murdered in a Cape Town ghetto was said to be devastated today as questions were asked about what the couple were doing in such a dangerous area late at night.

A spokeswoman at the five-star Cape Grace Hotel where the couple were staying said Shrien Dewani, 31, was being comforted by family and friends after his wife Anni, 28, was abducted in their taxi on Saturday night and murdered.

Nikki Linde said today: "Mr Dewani is devastated and very upset about what has happened. Some of his family from the Eastern Cape have flown up to be with him and give him support. The couple had been staying here and it's awful what happened."

The Dewanis arrived in South Africa last Thursday for their honeymoon and had been taken to a restaurant near Somerset West, 20 miles from Cape Town, in a chauffeur-driven VW Sharan.

Briton Mr Dewani is said to be an accountant who manages a family-run chain of nursing homes; his bride was believed to be a mechanical engineer of Ugandan-Asian descent from Sweden.

On the way back to the hotel, they asked the driver to make a detour to the Guguletu township at around 11pm. The couple, from Westbury-on-Trym, near Bristol, were hijacked by two armed men and the driver ordered out of the car.

Mr Dewani was bundled out of the car an hour later at Harare, in the sprawling Khayelitsha township. He contacted police who found his wife's body dumped on the back seat of the car in another part of Khayelitsha. Unconfirmed reports said she was shot, but police would not comment, saying an autopsy was due to take place. Lt-Col Andre Traut said no one had been arrested.

Taxi drivers questioned why the unnamed chauffeur took the couple to Guguletu, 10 miles from Cape Town city centre, so late at night.

Younis Purcell said: "It is a dangerous place at night and every driver would know. Did he get lost? Because if he was, it was the wrong place to be."

Anika Govender added: "There are parts of Guguletu which are good to visit — during the day. A lot of tourists go to Mzoli's restaurant which is great. But you don't want to be in Guguletu after dark. Now people will think all of Cape Town is dangerous."

Last year there were 14,915 carjackings in South Africa and 18,148 murders, most of which happen in or near townships.

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