£1300, that’s what our Times Newspaper report the driver (Tongo) admitted in court today is what the ‘husband’ paid for the murder of his wife!
The DT report that Tongo got 18 years and will testify against the 2 co-accused (the ‘hitmen’.)
The Daily Mail have a similar report but as is the case with the DT we can’t comment for ‘legal reasons’
This Max Clifford must have a lot of connections, every time I try and post something on this case on MyT it’s quickly deleted.
Clifford is reported as saying “We were warned to expect what has happened today because our South African lawyers said this is often how cases develop there.”
Well I’d like some examples, I can’t recall a single case with circumstances remotely similar to this!
e-news (an independent news service here) have just reported that our lot have issued an extradition warrant for the husband, good.
Boadicea's Chariot 
He surely must be extradited, given the seriousness of this accusation.
why is it being deleted? it’s news isn’t it?
I always thought he was involved anyway.
Tom, lets see if the British justice system deal as quickly with this as they did the Assange case!
Rick, I’ve published this over there, I’ve already been told that a similar post was zapped earlier today!
You ask why, Clifford, lawyers, courts and costs come immediately to mind.
Comments are open on our local paper’s pages.
It doesn’t seem to be reported here yet, Soutie. If an extradition warrant has been served then I think from what I have read that it may suffer from one single rather important flaw; the husband doesn’t seem to have any motive for arranging for his wife to be killed.
Unless they have some evidence of a motive of which we are unaware at this time.
Minty MBE,
Its all over the Beeb news.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-11937170
Hi Furry.
I was not referring to reporting of the case, merely the extradition warrant. The UK press when I last checked haven’t reported that one has been served.
strange how a guy like Clifford can have such power and everyone bows to his demands.
Has the world really come to this?
Ara, I’ve just checked the e news channel, it says ‘prosecutor confirms they will apply for extradition’
e news here are our service with their ears closest to the ground on legal matters, they’re not quite ‘Court TV’ but certainly pride themselves on their televising of high profile cases and reporting on legal issues.
Thanks Soutie.
I dare say our lot will pick it up at some point but they do seem to be rather circumspect in what they are saying at the moment.
Message received and understood Ma’am.
Shutting small furry trap now Ma’am. 🙂
Sorry, did I sound a bit stern, Furry? 🙂
Soutie, sadly the Tourism industry is very important to South Africa’s revenue streams.
The extreme casual violence is well documented. It is not considered inconceivable in the rest of the world, that any slant other than a home-grown armed attack, kidnapping and sexual assault, would be encouraged by the South African authorities to divert attention, in an attempt to reassure tourists that it is not just another locally-initiated crime statistic.
A conspiracy?
Your theory would have to include the perpetrator, his defence team, the justice dept. (prosecutors), the investigating officers and possibly the judge, all put in place by S.A.Tourism [or some ‘high ranking’ official(s)]
The words tinpot and banana come to mind, are you perhaps confusing us with one of our northern neighbours?
There do seem to be one or two odd factors in this case. According to reports the marriage in Mumbai was not registered. Then the flight crew noticed the couple sat apart on the plane, didn’t speak to each other and the wife seemed to have been crying. And now the poor girl’s dead and the husband doesn’t seem too distraught; certainly not too upset to hire Clifford. Odd.
On a point of law, if the husband is found guilty, is Max Clifford liable for aiding and abetting or conspiracy to pervert etc.? Where’s JM when you need him? 🙂
Whenever plea bargaining is involved in a murder case, the bargaining is between the Defendant and the Public Prosecutor, who is a senior law officer of Government. It is not stretching the bounds of my credibility beyond breaking point that a defendant may be provided with the prospect of a more lenient sentence if they come up with something which would divert attention from what may otherwise be seen as yet another violent kidnap and rape. I suspect the results of plea bargaining in most countries of the world. In the USA, it is frequently used to have people plead guilty, rather than face the cost of defending themselves, when in fact they are innocent. If it can have such undesirable consequences in the USA, I would be wary of suggesting that it could never happen in the Rainbow Nation…
Sheona – newly married girls cry – my new wife howled for most of the way back from New York to London, almost forty years ago – she wasn’t the first, and she won’t be the last.
I can see no reason why the perpetrators of this crime should accuse the husband unless there is a some truth in their story or that they hoped that the accusation would lead to a lighter sentence.
I’m not sure that such a story would help the tourist industry – after all how many wives or husbands would accompany their spouses on a trip to SA knowing that they can be hijacked and murdered for as little as £1,300?
Boa, the crux of it is summed up in your comment: “or that they hoped that the accusation would lead to a lighter sentence”
If it can be shown to be an internal family-initiated crime – i.e. prompted by the husband, it doesn’t “count” so much as part of S.A.’s growing lawlessness, from a tourist standpoint. It’s rather similar to parts of the States with very high murder statistics, claiming that 90% of them are Black-on-Black, and drug-related, and so if you’re a white visitor and not into drugs you’ll be just fine, unless of course you get caught in a shoot out, and that would be just unfortunate 🙂
I am late to this, but as one who is living in Cape Town, I can say that local suspicions were aroused immediately when it was stated that the bride had wanted to see some of ‘the real Africa’. That just did not make any sense. You would have to be completely mad to enter the townships after dark. She would have seen what they look like as the couple travelled too and from the airport and later on their trip to Somerset West. Had she not been so beautiful and had they not both looked so happy, I think fingers would have been pointed at him from the word go. But I for one could not imagine the husband would want to have her killed. Increasingly, however, it does seem as if that was the case.
CWJ, you do raise some very valid points about plea-bargaining. Recently a local gangster, by the name of Glen Agliotti was found not guilty of involvement in the murder of mining magnate Brett Kebble. Several hardened criminals were given immunity as a result of plea bargains. As a result, nobody was convicted of the crime and several proven criminals went free. It is a complete shambles. As for the staggering levels of crime, you have no idea just how horrific they are. Just have a peruse through this blog site. Although it is not the most professional layout, it provides plenty of references for the cases it reports. http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/
Sorry, I meant to say that she would have seen what the townships looked like and there is no way she would have wanted to go near them after dark. You do not just go to Africa without having learned a little about what happens hear. She was a bright woman with African links and she would have been aware of the dangers.
Morning all
I have just heard that the husband has been arrested and will be appearing in a court in Westminster today!
It appears that an extradition order was processed, apparently the British court now have 28 days to make up their minds.
I wonder if he’ll get bail?
There might be a bit of an uproar if he does! 🙂
Thanks for the link, Sipu. In fact we have friends who live half of each year in South Africa, so are fed a regular newstream of the various goings-on – and they wonder why we won’t accept their kind invitations to come and spend a month with them?! It remains a most beautiful country – just a shame about the lawlessness…
Well, forty years ago this newly-married girl certainly didn’t feel like crying, cwj.
I didn’t cry on any of my wedding days!
There is an appeal process, I understand, Soutie so this could go on a bit.
Opps sorry, screwed up the quote thingy.
Corrected – B.
I think he has got bail, I do believe I read this today.
OK, just read that he was granted bail but this was overruled. A more senior judge will apparently review this at a further hearing.
Morning Sheona & Boa, no tears of joy then? 😉
Hello Ara, yes, he got bail, but the ‘S.A. authorities’ have appealed, I have to assume that having got ‘married’ in India he could be a flight risk!