Man convicted of Anni Dewani murder

A hitman allegedly hired by British businessman Shrien Dewani to kill his bride on their South African honeymoon has been convicted of murder.

Prosecutors believe Xolile Mngeni pulled the trigger after he was recruited to carry out the assassination in an attack designed to resemble a car hijacking.

Mngeni, 25, was found guilty of premeditated murder after a judge at the Western Cape High Court heard an "avalanche of evidence" against him.

Dewani, 32, now remains the only suspect yet to face trial in South Africa in connection with the murder of his Swedish wife Anni.

He continues to deny orchestrating the killing in Cape Town's impoverished Gugulethu township on November 13, 2010.

The businessman, who has been held at Fromeside Clinic, a secure mental health hospital in Bristol, is fighting extradition to South Africa.

Mngeni - convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, alongside the murder charge - stood expressionless as the judgment was delivered in front of his family, who watched, wide-eyed, from the public gallery.

Mngeni was acquitted of Mrs Dewani's kidnapping - deemed to have been part of a single chain of events leading to her murder.

The 28-year-old was shot as the newlyweds travelled by taxi through the outskirts of Cape Town. Her husband and the driver Zola Tongo were ejected from the car before Mrs Dewani was driven away and killed. She was found dead in the back of the abandoned vehicle with a bullet wound to her neck.

Tongo was jailed for 18 years after he admitted his part in the crime. This came after he claimed in a plea agreement that Dewani ordered the carjacking and paid for a hit on his wife. Another accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, also pleaded guilty to charges over the murder and was handed a 25-year prison sentence.