Shrien Dewani granted bail despite claims of 'significant new evidence'

The British businessman Shrien Dewani, wanted for extradition by South Africa over claims he paid hitmen to kill his bride on their Cape Town honeymoon, was granted £250,000 bail today despite claims that there was "significant new evidence" against him.

CCTV footage taken three days after the murder of his Swedish wife, Anni, 28, showed him "surreptitiously" handing over a "white plastic package" said to contain 1,000 rand (£90) at the five-star Cape Grace hotel to the taxi driver he is accused of recruiting to hire hitmen, the high court judge Mr Justice Ouseley heard.

Together with other new evidence, it demonstrated "there is a very powerful case against Mr Dewani", lawyers for the South African government said.

However, Dewani, 30, from a wealthy Bristol family, was to be freed from Wandsworth jail after the judge dismissed the appeal by the South African government, which had argued he should remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.

Dewani's barrister Clare Montgomery QC said he hoped to clear his name and had "no desire to hide or flee".

His wife was found shot dead in an abandoned car after an apparent carjacking in a dangerous township on 13 November. The couple's taxi driver, Zola Tongo, was sentenced to 18 years' jail on Tuesday after confessing to conspiracy to murder, claiming Dewani approached him to hire two hitmen to stage the carjacking and kill his wife and, offering to pay 15,000 rand.

Arguing there was substantial risk Dewani would flee, Ben Watson QC, for the South African government, said the CCTV footage undermined Dewani's account. Dewani is alleged to have handed over the cash after breaking off a meeting with his father-in-law, Vinod Hindocha.

"There can be no proper explanation for that transaction or the manner in which it was conducted, and it ties in with Mr Tongo being paid 1,000 rand for his efforts," said Watson.

Other CCTV footage showed Dewani, a qualified accountant, talking in the taxi alone with the driver – once for four minutes, and once for 13 – immediately after arriving at the hotel from the airport where they met, said Watson. He claimed this tied with the driver's account.

Two shop assistants in a backstreet currency exchange where no identity documents were required allegedly said he had exchanged $1,500 into rand – the sum he is said to have arranged to pay the alleged hitmen Xolile Mnguni and Mziwamadoda Qwabe. He also drew £1,000 from cash machines, giving him "dirty" and "clean" streams of income, said Watson.

Dewani was robbed but thrown out of the vehicle unharmed, while his wife was murdered but not sexually assaulted, said Watson. "He would have been an obvious eyewitness," he said, arguing that there were substantial grounds to believe Dewani would flee. "The net is closing in, and while he may have been prepared to hand himself in before, he may well have strong reasons why he would not now."

The South African authorities were appealing against a decision earlier this week by a judge at City of Westminster magistrates court to grant bail.

Montgomery, for Dewani, said there was "nothing" in the fresh material that strengthened the case against him or made it more likely he would flee.

His wife could have died if the gun went off accidentally, and did not appear to have an "execution-style wound", she said. "It's a wound that travels through Anni's hand and into her neck, and it is because it severed arteries that it proved fatal." As to the suggestion there was no sexual assault, there was a clear grip mark on her lower leg, Montgomery said.

She said any cash Dewani paid to Tongo was for services as a driver and guide and their conversations were "consistent with planning days ahead". He was accused of offering 15,000 rand for the killing, yet is said to have changed 10,000, she said.

Imposing the bail conditions, which include electronic tagging and a curfew, the judge said he had concluded Dewani "had a genuine and realistic interest in making sure he clears his name".

South Africa's justice minister, Jeff Radebe, dismissed any suggestion Dewani would not get a fair trial. But the chief of South African police, General Bheki Cele, provoked controversy by calling Dewani a "monkey", telling journalists: "One monkey came from London to kill his wife here. He thought we South Africans were stupid. Don't kill people here."

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