An Indian-origin businessman from Britain accused of arranging the murder of his wife in South Africa, met a gay escort three times.
Shrien Dewani, 33, is accused of ordering the murder of his wife, 28-year-old Anni Dewani, who was shot on the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010.
On Monday, during Dewani's ongoing trial at the Western Cape High Court, Cape Town, the Birmingham-based escort, Leopold Leisser, had started to describe three sexual encounters with Dewani when the Briton’s barristers objected, saying the evidence was irrelevant, The Guardian reported.
Judge Jeanette Traverso ordered that Leisser stand down until she had been provided with detailed legal argument explaining why she should allow his evidence.
This is the second time Traverso, Cape Town’s second most senior judge, has stepped in to prevent the Dewani prosecution from providing evidence about the British businessman’s bisexual nature.
Two weeks ago, she stopped South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) from presenting the high court with sexually charged emails sent to Dewani from an older man about a year before the murder of Anni Dewani, the accused’s wife.
Leisser said Dewani had paid him for sex on three occasions, the most recent being in April 2010, seven months before Anni’s death.
The prosecution argues Dewani was leading a secret double-life and wanted out of his marriage, so arranged a staged hijacking in November 2010 in which he escaped and his wife was killed.
Three men have already been convicted in connection with Anni's death.
The trial which started Oct 6, continues.
