Honeymoon Killing

Most of the time after a couple is married the honeymoon follows shortly after. Usually the couple will take a trip to an exotic place, leave all their stresses at home, and enjoy each others company. The thought of anything bad happening to one another during the honeymoon is probably the farthest thing from their mind. Or in this case it could be the only thing on their mind.

Honeymooners Shrien and Anni Dewani fell victim to a horrible crime in Guguletu, South Africa. The two were being chauffeured around town when two men forced themselves into their vehicle. Shrien and the driver were later pushed out of the car and, wife, Anni was taken and ultimately found dead in the backseat from a single gun shot wound to the neck. According to The New York Times, Guguletu, South Africa is a “no-go area for tourist.” That is probably because “713 murders have been committed in Guguletu in the past five years. That is about one every 2 and a half days, according to the police.” The question that comes to mind is why would anyone want to honeymoon in a place that is clearly dangerous? Shrien, who is a wealthy businessman from Britain, says that Anni, who grew up in Sweden, wanted to see the “Real Africa”, which is why they ended up in the precarious community. Later, after bartering for an 18-year prison sentence in exchange for confessing his part in the crime, the driver Zola Robert Tongo confessed to his part in the killing in court, but insisted that Shrien was the instigator. Tongo claimed that Shrien had given him and the two other men, who did the actual killing, money for the job. The crime then took a turn. Instead of it seeming like a horrible homicide that happened to an unexpected couple, it then looked like a scheming husband’s plan to get rid of his wife by blaming the violent reputation of South Africa. Shrien, who denies having any part of the murder, was later arrested in Britain on suspicion of murder, but is free on $350,000 bail and is at the moment fighting extradition to South Africa.

Usually I don’t take sides when crimes do not have a substantial amount of evidence, but after reading about all the untied ends and stories that did not add up, I had to take sides with the driver. I believe that the husband paid off the killers to kill his wife. I could be wrong, but Shrien’s side of the story just does not add up, so I stand my ground on believing that he is guilty. Why anyone would kill their significant other after only two weeks of being married and while on their honeymoon I will never understand. This article really showed me that sometimes you can really never know a person.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/africa/16honeymoon.html?ref=africa