South African Police wants Dewani extradited

Johannesburg: South Africa's police chief says he is confident that UK-based NRI businessman Shrien Dewani implicated in the murder of his Indo-Swedish wife on their honeymoon in Cape Town will be extradited to the country soon.

National police commissioner Bheki Cele says he is "confident" Dewani will be extradited to South Africa "to answer charges for his possible involvement" in the murder of his wife, Anni, 28.

"Let him come back and allow our courts to determine the case. We are confident that we handled the case professionally and we are confident that Dewani will be extradited back to the country," The Times newspaper quoted
Cele as saying.

Anni was shot and killed in November during a carjacking on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Zola Tongo, the driver of the car in which the young bride was travelling before her death, says he was paid 1,500 rand (around USD 220) for his role in the murder. He was sentenced to 18 years in jail.

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Two other South Africans are due to stand trial for the murder next year.

Dewani, who returned to Britain with his wife's body days after the killing, was later arrested in Bristol, south of London. He is currently out on bail.

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Dewani's publicist Max Clifford has repeatedly denied that Dewani had anything to do with the death of his bride of two weeks.

Clifford had said that his client would not receive a fair trial in the country.

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Cele, in an interview with the paper, said claims that Dewani will not be fairly treated were "devoid of logic".

"Because of perceptions about our country, some people still think that our police officers are not capable of handling sophisticated crimes."

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Cele, who has come under fire from the British press for calling Dewani a "monkey" for allegedly masterminding his wife's murder in Cape Town, said, "There has been a lot of noise about my 'monkey' comments. What people should understand is that we attach different meanings to what we say.

"The 'monkey' remark was not directed at Shrien Dewani but at any foreigner who comes to South Africa hoping to commit crime in the hope that they would not be caught out," he said.

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"I am not going to stop talking or using some words because I might offend some people. This is who I am," he said.