Honeymoon Murder Suspect in Hospital After Apparent Suicide Attempt

LONDON -- A British man accused of arranging his wife's murder while on honeymoon in South Africa has been hospitalized after a suspected suicide attempt, marking yet another twist in an already complicated case.

Millionaire businessman Shrien Dewani -- who South African prosecutors want to extradite on a murder charge -- was admitted to a hospital in the southwestern English city of Bristol on Sunday after apparently overdosing on tablets, according to reports in the British media.

His spokesman, publicist Max Clifford, said Monday night that he couldn't confirm whether there was a suicide attempt, but he added that the 31-year-old nursing home owner was suffering from "post-traumatic stress disorder" and had lost almost 27 pounds in recent weeks.

"He is in a very bad place at the moment, which is not surprising given the tragic case of his wife and all the accusations," Clifford said, according to The Telegraph.

The case has rarely been out of the U.K. media since Nov. 14, when the body of Dewani's wife -- Swedish-born Anni, 28 -- was discovered on the outskirts of Cape Town. The couple had wed just two weeks earlier and arrived in South Africa for their honeymoon on Nov. 7. Six days later, as the newlyweds were returning to their luxury hotel after a dinner out, their taxi was hijacked in Gugulethu township, a poor Cape Town suburb.

Dewani told police that two armed men forced him and the taxi driver out of the vehicle and then drove off with Anni. A police helicopter found the car the following morning in a nearby township. Anni's body was in the back of the taxi. She had been severely beaten and suffered a single gunshot wound to the neck. Her jewelry, handbag and phone had been stolen.

In press interviews given in the days after the murder, Dewani said that his wife had asked to take a detour through the township on the way back to their hotel because she wanted to see the "real Africa." Some journalists have questioned why the couple took a night drive through Gugulethu, as Cape Town's impoverished townships become no-go areas for tourists once darkness falls. Dewani told the BBC that it had been an "impulsive" but informed decision, as he knew Africa well.

The millionaire was allowed to return to the U.K. with Anni's body on Nov. 17. That same day, South African police arrested alleged hijacker Xolile Mngeni. On Nov. 19 they arrested his suspected accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, and taxi driver Zola Tongo.

All three were charged with robbery, kidnapping and murder, and Qwabe, 25, and Mngeni, 26, are due in court Friday.

Tongo, 31, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in December -- a relatively lenient sentence granted after the taxi driver entered a plea bargain. He told investigators that he first met the couple when they arrived at Cape Town airport. Dewani liked his car and hired him for the duration of their honeymoon, Tongo said. Some 25 minutes into that first journey from the airport, Dewani allegedly broached the subject of having his wife killed, saying he would pay the hit squad 15,000 rand ($2,100).

Dewani and his family have dismissed this claim as having "absolutely no substance." They told British daily The Independent that it was impossible to believe that Dewani "was bold, or foolish, enough to broach the subject of [Anni's] murder with a taxi driver he had just met while she sat in the car alongside them." They added that this version of events also implied that his new wife "then did nothing to raise the alarm about their conversation."

Prosecutors are now trying to force Dewani to return to South Africa and face trial. He was due to attend a preliminary hearing in London in January but didn't attend, his legal team said, as he was suffering from extreme stress and depression. His next extradition hearing will take place in May.

Dewani's family and supporters argue there is no way he will receive a fair trial in South Africa, as senior members of the judiciary have made a series of highly prejudicial comments to local media. Late last year, national police commissioner Gen. Bheki Cele described Dewani as a "monkey" who "came all the way from London to have his wife murdered here." And in an interview with South African TV this weekend, Menzi Simelane, the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, declared that Dewani was a "fugitive" as he "ran out of a country" after committing a "very heinous crime."

Further doubts were raised about the prosecution's case last week when lawyers for Qwabe and Mngeni claimed that the men had been tortured and handed pre-written statements by South African police, The Guardian reported.

"I am instructed that some unknown police officer assaulted him by means of a big torch. He was hit all over his body," said Qwabe's lawyer, Thabo Nogemane. "He said the statement was a suggestion put to him by the police. They already had the allegations so they told him: 'Just sign here.' I wouldn't refer to it as a confession, just a statement."

Meanwhile, Vusi Tshabalala, Mngeni's lawyer, told the paper that police punched his client and used "a plastic bag to suffocate him. He was frightened." Tshabalala suggested that police resorted to such extreme methods as they had been under intense pressure to solve the high-profile crime.

Police spokeswoman Sally De Beer refused to comment on the claims, telling The Guardian, "I'm not going to respond to any question because it is a matter before the courts."