BRITISH businessman Shrien Dewani, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of his bride Anni during their honeymoon in Cape Town should be extradited to South Africa to face trial, a British judge ruled today.
Dewani's lawyers had argued that his mental health is too fragile, but a judge ruled at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London that he was well enough to be extradited over the 2010 killing.
The 33-year-old Bristol-based businessman was in South Africa on honeymoon with his wife when Anni was shot dead when their car was apparently hijacked outside Cape Town in 2010.
Previously, British judges delayed Dewani's extradition on the grounds that he is suffering from serious depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Dewani, who is being treated at a psychiatric hospital, denies any involvement in the killing of his Swedish-born wife.
In his ruling at Westminster Magistrates' Court, Chief magistrate Howard Riddle said: "It is not in question that Shrien Dewani will be returned to South Africa. The treating clinicians continue to state that Mr Dewani will recover.
"There has been recovery, but it has been slow. It may be a long time before Mr Dewani is fit to plead, but he may be closer to that point.
"It is not impossible that if returned now, then after a reasonable period of further treatment and assessment he will be found fit to plead and a trial can take place.
A South African man, Xolile Mngeni, was jailed for life for the murder in December. Two other local men jailed over the killing allege that Dewani ordered the hit.
South Africa has offered reassurances that if Dewani was found to be mentally ill he would be admitted to a psychiatric hospital there.
His lawyers told a hearing in December that Dewani was a "husk" of a man who suffered flashbacks of the night his bride was killed and was afraid to go outside.
