Shrien Dewani 'caught on camera handing over cash to hitman he hired to kill his bride'... as former lover he hired for bondage sex sessions is told his spanking evidence is not relevant
Footage of Shrien Dewani handing money to the hitman he allegedly hired to kill his bride was played at his murder trial today as the former lover he hired for bondage sessions was told his spanking evidence was not relevant to the case.
Dewani, 34, looked occasionally agitated as he sat through CCTV clips which captured meetings between him and taxi driver Zola Tongo in the hours and days after the murder of 29-year-old Anni.
And the wealthy businessman repeatedly asked 'if the job had been done' before the young engineer's body had been recovered, the court was told.
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Footage of Shrien Dewani (left) handing money to the hitman he allegedly hired to kill his bride was played at his murder trial today as his former lover Leopold Leisser (right) was told his spanking evidence was not relevant
The CCTV clips were played to Cape Town's high court after Dewani's former gay lover Leopold Leisser, nicknamed the German Master, had given evidence - and was told not to include references to his sex sessions with the accused.
In exclusive MailOnline pictures taken after he left court following his evidence, Mr Leisser was seen relaxing in the sunshine and leaving the Cable Way Station on Table Mountain in Cape Town.
Dressed in a grey t-shirt, his face partially hidden by a baseball cap and sunglasses, Mr Leisser's casual attire was a far cry from his online leather clad persona.
After leaving court following his evidence, Mr Leisser was pictured relaxing in the sunshine and leaving the Cable Way Station on Table Mountain in Cape Town
Dressed in a grey t-shirt, his face partially hidden by a baseball cap and sunglasses, Mr Leisser's casual attire (right) was a far cry from his online leather clad persona (left)
In one video clip shown to the courtroom, Dewani is seen glancing up at a hotel security camera before moving out of frame. In another, he is captured leading Tongo down a hotel corridor to a quiet room, carrying a small bag of money.
Tongo, who claims he was hired by Dewani to organise the contract killing of his Swedish bride, was asked to tell the court what was said during their filmed exchanges and explain the body language between the men.
In one five-minute film Dewani, wearing a rain jacket, enters a quiet corner of the five-star Cape Grace hotel where Zola is sitting on a leather sofa. The men begin to chat before Dewani is seen suddenly turning towards another man who is cleaning the window of a door.
Dewani, 34, (pictured at the start of the trial ) looked occasionally agitated as he sat through CCTV clips which captured meetings between him and taxi driver Zola Tongo in the hours and days after Anni's death
Shrien Dewani today came face to face with Leopold Leisser, the male escort he met on three occasions before his wife Anni Dewani was shot dead on their honeymoon in South Africa in November 2010
'He was asking the lean to give us some privacy, to give us some space,' Zola explained to the court, via a translator.
With the cleaner now out of sight, Dewani is seen pacing the room as the men talk.
'He kept on asking me if I was fine and whether the job had been done,' Zola said. 'I answered that I didn’t know and I showed him that there are cameras and showed him where.'
Dewani, looking markedly younger in the four-year old footage, is then seen looking directly into the camera and then moving to the side of the room.
According to the prosecution, Dewani's secret gay life and the reputation of his family motivated him to order the contract killing of his new bride, Anni, 28, pictured above, during their honeymoon to South Africa
'He did not leave the room, he just turned away from the sight of the camera, so it couldn’t see him or find him,' Zola explained. 'He wanted to know from me whether I had any information about what had happened. Was there anything that I had heard, had the gentlemen [killers] really done what they were supposed to?'
Later, the men are seen talking again in the same area and Zola points with his finger towards the door, while his hand rests in his lap. Asked to explain what the hand signal meant, Zola said it was a warning sign.
'I was explaining to Mr Dewani that there were people on the other side,' he added.
So far three local men - including the taxi's driver - have confessed to taking part in the murder plot, but they all claim they did so at Dewani's behest; Mziwamadoda Qwabe, the only one of those men present at the moment of Anni's killing claims she was shot by his accomplice Xolile Mngeni from the front of the cab
The men stayed in touch, Zola said, and the driver asked to be paid the money he had been promised by Dewani for arranging the contract killing - R5,000, equivalent to £400 at the time.
After failing to turn up to a meeting at Cape Town’s Waterfront, Dewani later phoned Zola and asked him to come to the hotel, which was mobbed with media and police.
Tongo managed to get into the lobby without being spotted, where he saw Dewani who 'signalled me to follow him.'
The CCTV showed Dewani, carrying a small white bag, leading the driver down a corridor and then out of sight, into a private area out of sight of the cameras, where Zola said he handed over the money and promptly left.
'I opened the envelope and counted the money. There was only R1000 (£75). I folded the evelope, being angry, and put it into my back pocket.'
Zola left the room and was looking for Dewani, but didn’t see him, and left the hotel.
Earlier he had briefly described to the court how Mrs Dewani had screamed in terror once the staged carjacking was underway prompting her father Vinod Hindocha to look at the floor of the court and slowly shake his head.
Tongo had admitted that when he had picked the newlyweds up on the night of the arranged murder, 13 November 2010, he had failed to recognise his victim as the woman he had chatted to briefly the day before. He presumed the woman with Dewani was the “business partner” whose death he’d ordered the day before.
'The one from Friday, the one that I was introduced to, she was just dressed casually. But the one of Saturday evening was different from that one,' he told the court.
When Mrs Dewani's body was found the morning after the fake ambush, she was slumped in the back of Tongo’s abandoned car, still dressed in her short black evening dress and high heels.
Three days later Tongo was contacted by police who requested an interview. He had heard from a friend that the two hit men he had recruited had already been arrested, and decided to come clean about his role.
'I told them the truth about everything that I could remember. I told them the truth to give me peace of mind. I know the truth would come out.'
Tongo is serving 18 years for his part in Mrs Dewani’s murder, which he agreed a plea and sentencing deal with the prosecution in return for giving evidence against Dewani.
Its alleged Dewani recruited Zola Tongo, a taxi driver, to organise Anni's murder to be disguised as a violent carjacking during a late night township tour
Earlier in the day, Dewani's gay 'German Master' lover had told how he 'had to shut down' his escort business after his relationship with the honeymoon murder-accused was revealed.
Leopold Leisser had made up to £5,000 per month offering specialist sexual services until he was linked to Dewani.
The gay escort was also paid £18,000 for selling the story of his relationship with Dewani to The Sun newspaper, he told the court.
He said he needed the money for expenses after his business suffered.
Dewani's parents, Snila and Prakash Dewani arrive at his murder trial in Cape Town
'I know £18,000 sounds like a lot of money in this country, but my normal income was four to five thousand a month,' he told Cape Town's high court.
Shaven-headed Mr Leisser was ordered by the trial judge to give only the briefest of details about his relationship with Dewani, 34, but not include references to their sex sessions or conversations, following objections from the defence team.
During just a few minutes in the witness box, Mr Leisser confirmed he had stayed in touch with Dewani during the months after their final 'no limits' session in April 2010.
Attempts to get together had not been successful, but Dewani had kept him informed about his marriage plans in messages via Gaydar, the court heard, and Mr Leisser noticed he was surfing the site from his wedding trip to India.
'I was a bit surprised he was online. I said to him "should you not be arranging your marriage?",' bearded Mr Leisser told the court.
When Mr Leisser noticed that Dewani had deleted his Gaydar profile in early December, he sent him a text message to check that 'he was okay'.
'He replied that he was very busy but would be in touch,' the burly male prostitute told the court.
Some time later, he saw 'a breaking news story' on the television that linked Dewani to his wife's murder and contacted police.
'I spoke to a friend and said I knew a bit more,' he added, prompting objections from the defence team.
He gave a statement to police and was then contacted by The Sun newspaper, who paid him for a series of three stories.
The third 'and main' story was cancelled, Mr Leisser said, as it would have contained 'too much detail and affected my evidence'.
He confirmed that a letter from Dewani's lawyers had denied the men had ever met and included a threat to sue.
Dewani offered little reaction to the brief testimony of his former lover but nodded firmly in satisfaction when Judge Jeanette Traverso ruled that the prosecution could bring no evidence about his sexuality – for the second time during the trial - as he had already admitted paying for sex with gay prostitutes and described himself as 'bi-sexual'.
A bundle of intimate emails between Dewani and an older long-term lover were earlier also ruled as inadmissible by the judge.
Dewani denies five charges including murder and kidnapping. His trial continues
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