Honeymoon murder case: No inquest into Anni's death: Coroner

There is no "sufficient cause" for an inquest into the death of Anni Dewani, the Indo-Swedish wife of British-Indian millionaire Shrien Dewani, after he was acquitted by a South African court last year of killing her during their honeymoon, a British Coroner said today.
Dewani,34, returned to the UK in December last year after being cleared by a court in Cape Town of plotting the murder of his wife during their honeymoon in South Africa where he was extradited to face trial.
"I don't have sufficient cause to resume an inquest. In these proceedings, the matter will now rest. The fact that there are differing accounts of how Mrs Dewani came by her death does not, in my view, mean that the matters have not already been sufficiently established in public proceedings," Andrew Walker, North London Coroner's Court's, Senior Coroner was quoted as saying by the Independent.

Walker said that if new evidence, beyond that which already exists, comes to light, it would be open to the family to write to the Attorney General and request that matters be reopened.
He told the court that he was "prohibited" from reaching a conclusion which was inconsistent with the findings of the South African courts.
Representing the family, Christopher Staker had submitted that "as a result of the proceedings in South Africa, in this case, more questions have been raised than have been answered," the daily said in its report.

"The family's primary preference would be for an inquest to proceed now," Staker said.

"The reason for that is that there is simply, as a result of what has happened in South Africa, no clear picture - in fact we have a contradictory picture - of what happened between the time that Anni's parents last spoke to her on the evening of 13 November 2010...," he added.
However, Dewani did not attend the hearing, but wrote a letter which was read by his wife's father and uncle.
He was extradited from the UK in April last year for facing trial for arranging the murder of his 28-year-old wife Anni Hindocha, who was kidnapped and killed during their honeymoon near Cape Town in 2010.

He was accused of hiring three men -- taxi driver Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni -- to kill Anni.
Mngeni was sentenced to life in prison for the murder but died in jail. Qwabe was sentenced to 25 years. Tongo was sentenced to 18 years following a plea bargain deal.
Dewani lost a four-year legal battle in the UK to avoid extradition to South Africa, and was sent in April this year to stand trial.
He has always denied plotting to arrange the shooting of his bride in the back of their taxi while on honeymoon.