THEY HAVE FAILED ANNI

The family of murdered newlywed Anni Dewani say the decision to grant parole to the fixer behind her murder is one the country will regret

- SIPHOKAZI ZAMA

THE phone call made his skin crawl. The man who’d killed his beloved Anni was being considered for parole and wanted to meet as part of the rehabilitation process.

Ashok Hindocha made his way from his home in Sweden to South Africa to meet with her killer, but he was so dejected by the process that he left before the department of correctional services even made its decision.

“I feel like I flew all the way for nothing because their minds were already made up to give him parole,” he tells YOU.

Businessman Ashok (71) is talking to us from his office in Mariestad, Sweden. Even though spring has arrived, life remains cold and bleak for the Hindochas. They were plunged into permanent darkness the day Anni (28) was murdered in Cape Town in November 2010.

Dubbed the honeymoon murder, the case made headlines the world over. Anni’s husband, Shrien Dewani, was accused of hiring hitmen to kill her while the newlyweds were on holiday from the UK. Shrien claimed they were hijacked on their way back to the Mother City after dinner in Strand and taken to Gugulethu, where Anni was shot in the neck. It was later alleged he orchestrated the killing.

The businessman was arrested along with hitmen Xolile Mngeni and Mziwamdoda Qwabe and shuttle driver Zola Tongo, who said he’d hired the two men on Shrien’s behalf.

Shrien’s case was eventually thrown out of court after Judge Jeanette Traverso said the prosecution’s evidence fell “far below the threshold” of what a reasonable court could convict on.