Cape Town:
A hitman serving a life sentence for killing Indo-Swedish honeymooner Anni Dewani in 2010 has died in a prison here, just days after her NRI businessman husband Shrien Dewani was put on trial for the murder.
Xolile Mngeni, 27, who was convicted of shooting Anni while she was on her honeymoon, had been serving a life sentence for the murder.
Mngeni was identified as the person who fired the shot that killed Anni while she was on honeymoon in Cape Town in November 2010. He was 23 at the time.
Anni’s husband Shrien, who is accused of paying to have her killed, is on trial in the Western Cape High Court.
Mngeni was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2011. He had been diagnosed with pineoblastoma a rare form of cancer with a low survival rate.
However, after surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, his condition improved enough for him to be tried for the murder.
At the end of 2012 Mngeni was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Earlier this year, Mngeni was admitted to Groote Schuur Hospital in a critical condition. But his condition stabilised and he returned to prison. He failed to secure his release on medical parole.
He died in the hospital section of Cape Town prison yesterday, officials said.
Mngeni’s death will rule him out as a witness in the trial against Anni’s husband.
Prosecutors allege that Dewani conspired with Cape Town residents Mngeni, Zola Tongo and Mziwamadoda Qwabe to kill his wife two weeks after their lavish wedding.
Qwabe has already told the Cape Town High Court that Dewani’s taxi driver had contacted him and told him “there was a husband who wanted his wife to be killed”.
Qwabe is serving 25 years in jail for his part in the murder, while the taxi driver, Zola Tongo, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.
Dewani was extradited from the UK in April and is charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery, murder, kidnapping, and defeating the ends of justice. He has been receiving treatment at Valkenberg psychiatric hospital since his arrival in South Africa.
Before being put on a plane to South Africa, he fought his extradition for more than three years and was admitted to a hospital in the UK for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
