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Hi listeners, it's Carter Roy. Real quick. Before today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you listen to podcasts. This his crime house. It's safe to say that most of us want to be honest, especially with our family. But the truth is there are parts of ourselves we can't always share, even if we'd like to. 30 year old srian Diwani found himself in this very position after his wife, 28 year old Annie, was murdered on November 13, 2010. Annie was kidnapped and killed while they were on their honeymoon in South Africa. In the weeks, months and years that followed, rumors swirled that Srien was involved. And once the floodgates opened, they never closed. Tabloids around the world reported on every detail of Chien's private life. The secrets they uncovered were so explosive, they were almost more damaging than the original accusations. And in the end, everyone suffered because of it. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle and an end. But you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories, a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. New episodes come out every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with Friday's episodes covering the cases that deserve a deeper look. Thank you for being part of the Crime House community. Please rate, review and follow the show and for ad free access to every episode. Subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This is the second of two episodes on the 2010 murder of 28 year old Annie Diwani in Cape Town, South Africa. Last time I introduced you to Annie and Srien. Young, beautiful and rich, they seem like the ultimate power couple. In 2010, they got married in Mumbai and jetted off to South Africa for their honeymoon. But they never truly got a chance to celebrate because just a few days into their trip on November 13, a pair of gunmen hijacked their taxi and killed Annie. Today I'll discuss the explosive investigation that followed. Although Annie's killers were found almost immediately, they claim the entire hijacking was set up by someone else. Those accusations led to years of legal battles, tabloid drama and conspiracy theories. And more than 15 years later, many people still aren't satisfied with the official verdict. All that and more coming up. You know that moment in spring when you open your closet and you think, do I really need all this? I do. Lately I've been trying to keep fewer pieces, but ones that actually feel special and wear well every day. And and that is why I keep coming back to Quints. Their linen pants and shirts are lightweight, breathable and comfortable. I literally have one on right now. The kind of pieces that make spring mornings effortless. And their Flowknit activewear. Oh soft moisture wicking anti odor. Honestly, I wanna live in it. The best part is the value. Quince works directly with ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen so you're getting premium quality at prices 50 to 60% lower than similar brand. Everything is made to last and simplifies getting dressed. Refresh your wardrobe with quince. Go to quince.com crimehouse for free shipping and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. Go to q-u I n c e.com crimehouse for free shipping 365 day returns. Quince.com/crime house
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On November 7, 2010, 28 year old Annie Diwani and her new husband, 30 year old Trienne arrived in Cape Town, South Africa for their honeymoon. Since meeting in London 18 months earlier, the couple had been through a lot. Srian came from a wealthy family and and had taken over his father's UK based company PSP Healthcare. And though he ran the business with his older brother, Srian definitely felt pressure to succeed. That might be why his in laws thought he could be controlling at times. He also wasn't the most affectionate, which often made Annie feel rejected at multiple points in their relationship. She considered calling off their engagement because of the tension, but in the end the two of them always worked things out and by November 13th. It was day six of their South African holiday and the couple seemed to be enjoying themselves. That night, after a long day of sunbathing and drinking at their five star hotel, Annie and Srian decided to hit the town for some adventure. At 8pm that evening, they called up their favorite taxi driver, 30 year old Zola Robert Tongo, to give them a ride. Because Cape Town was notoriously dangerous, finding reliable transportation was crucial. And so far Zola had proven he could be trusted. He drove them to a late sushi dinner. By the time they were done eating, it was around 10:30pm but the newlyweds weren't ready to hit the hay just yet. According to Zola and Srian, Annie was begging to see the real Africa. So far, she and her husband had spent their time cloistered in luxury hotels and exclusive resorts. She wanted to see where regular people lived. And Zola agreed to drive them through a township called Gugulhu. Located around 12 miles west of the city center. It's an underdeveloped area with a high rate of poverty and crime. Women are especially at risk of violence, especially at night. Under normal circumstances, tourists wouldn't go anywhere near Gugulhedu and no legitimate guide would agree to take them there. Sadly, Annie soon learned why. At around 10:45pm their taxi was hijacked by two men brandishing pistols. Zola and Srian were robbed and thrown out of the car unharmed, but the attackers drove off with Annie still inside. The next morning, police found her shot dead in the backseat. Using fingerprint analysis, detectives located the gunman two days later, on November 17. They were 26 year old Zolili Mungini and 25 year old Mizimwamdota Kwabe. Although both men confessed to the hijacking, the neither one had a history of violent crime and they claimed that the whole thing was set up by the Diwani's taxi driver, Zola. By then, Zola knew he was on the police's radar and hired a defense attorney who advised Zola to turn himself in. A week after the murder, on November 20, Zola turned up at the police station. He said he would talk, but only if he could work out a plea bargain for his confession. Three days later, in exchange for testifying against the hijackers, Zola pleaded guilty to armed robbery, kidnapping and murder. Instead of the 25 years he would have normally faced, he was given 18. That's when he dropped a bombshell. He freely confessed to being involved in the hijacking, but he claimed there was another layer to the plot, one the police hadn't expected. Zola swore that the murder was all Srian Diwani's idea. According to the taxi driver, Srian paid him to set up a fake hijacking and kill his wife right in the middle of their honeymoon. And apparently, Zola could prove it. He confirmed that he first met srian on november 7, the day he picked up the newlyweds at the Cape Town airport. After driving them to their hotel, Annie got out of the taxi and headed to the front desk to check in. But Chien stayed behind to talk. At that point, he'd only known zola for about 30 minutes. And yet he allegedly trusted the taxi driver enough to ask him to arrange a hit on his wife. He was willing to pay the equivalent of around $900 for the job, and that was about two weeks of earnings for Zola in a good month. And while it wasn't a life changing amount of money, he had five children and a teenage sister to support back home. So even though he'd never committed murder before, he took the deal. After that, Zola asked a friend named Monde to help him find a hitman. According to Zola, Monde lived in Gugulhedu and had the necessary connections. From there, Monde acted as a middleman and put Zola in contact with the two hijackers, Zolily and Koabe. But there was a problem. Srian only had US Dollars, but the hitmen wanted their money in South African rand. Srian could have exchanged that money at his hotel, but. But according to Zola, he said the exchange rate they offered was bad. So to save a couple of hundred dollars, Zola took Srian to a black market for the exchange. Zola said this took place at around noon on the day of the murder. That night, Chien reportedly stashed the cash in an envelope in the back of the taxi. Then the gunman hijacked the car at a prearranged spot and drove off with Annie in the backseat. Killed her on the side of the road and took the cash. After hearing Zola's confession, the police were split on whether to believe him. Some parts of his story seemed unlikely, especially the idea that Srian was willing to trust a man he just met to kill his wife. But at least one Veteran investigator was Lt. Col. Mike Barkhazin took Zola seriously. He knew from experience that in Cape Town it was possible to hire assassins for relatively small amounts of money. So while there wasn't any hard evidence to support the accusations yet, the police decided to see if they could corroborate Zola's account, they ended up finding several pieces of evidence that seemed to match up with his story. The first was security footage from the hotel the Diwani stayed at in Cape Town. Cameras showed Annie checking in at the front desk when the couple first arrived, while Srian remained in the taxi for around four minutes. He returned to the parking lot shortly after dropping his bags off and talked to Zola for an additional 10 minutes. There was also footage of Zola visiting the middleman, Monde, at work. Those cameras also recorded audio, which Monde was fully aware of on video. He and Zola exchanged a few quiet words, then walked into a back office, apparently to have a longer conversation about the hit. Then, on the day of the murder, around noon, cameras showed Srian leaving the hotel alone while Annie sunbathed by the pool. This seemed to match up with Zola's account. He said this was the alleged timeframe when Srian exchanged his money and discussed the details of the murder with the hijackers. Next, there was some suspicious cell phone data. Zola told police that right before the hijacking, he texted Srian to confirm that he'd stashed the money in the backseat. And. And cell phone records confirmed the two were texting back and forth in the taxi before the hijacking. But Srian's phone was stolen by the hitmen and had already been sold off by the time Zola came into the station. Since it was never recovered and Zola had deleted his messages, police couldn't confirm what the two men were actually discussing. But at the time, they were sitting two feet away from each other in the taxi. It was odd that they texted at all. Finally, there was CCTV footage from the hotel taken on November 16, three days after Annie's death. Zola claimed that by then the hijackers had already been paid, but he was still waiting for his cut of the money. So he allegedly met Srian at the hotel and received his payout there. Sure enough, the camera showed Srian entering a small office in the lobby with a white envelope. Zola followed him inside the room, then left with the envelope. So far, there was no smoking gun that proved Srian was guilty. But the circumstantial evidence looked incredibly suspicious. That made the police wonder if maybe Zola was telling the truth. The lead detective on the case, Captain Paul Hendrickse, knew that announcing Srian as a person of interest in Annie's murder would cause an uproar in the media. At the same time, he felt like they had enough evidence to move forward with the investigation. So three weeks after the murder in December of 2010, the Cape Town police asked Annie's family to come to South Africa and and speak to the prosecutors in person. That's when they learned about Zola's accusations. Hani's father Vinod could hardly speak by the time they were done meeting with the legal team. But the truth was he'd already been harboring suspicions about his former son in law. Since Annie's murder, multiple people reported that Trian was behaving strangely. For one, he seemed unusually eager to cremate Annie's body. On top of that, Annie's cousin had shown Vnod some text messages in which Annie said she wasn't happy with her new husband. A couple of them were sent just days before her murder. Vinod was still processing all of this when Cape Town detectives told him he had a choice to make. In order to move forward with the investigation, they wanted the family's permission to formally grant Zola Tongo his plea bargain. Similar to the United States, South African prosecutors are required to consult with the victim's family before making a deal. While family members don't technically have veto power for such a high profile case, the Cape Town authorities wanted everything done by the book. As painful as it was, Venod agreed to sign the paperwork. He wanted to get to the bottom of his daughter's murder, no matter the cost. The fallout from this single decision would cause an international scandal and ruin more than one. Focus features in Blumhouse Obsession When I have a crush on a guy no one knows, Be careful. I wish Nikki loved me more than
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anyone in the entire world.
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Who you wish for obsession is 96% fresh on rotten Tomatoes.
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I love you so so so so much.
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It's blood soaked nightmare fuel. Brooke hugs blood you put on her. You have been warned. Obsession Rated R. Under 17. Animated without parent only theaters May 15 with special engagements in Dolby.
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This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session and this summer Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories. And the book to screen favorites you've already read twice off campus. Elle every year after the Love Hypothesis. Sterling point and more Slow burns second chances chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime.
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On November 13, 2010, 28 year old Annie Dewani was murdered in Cape town, South Africa. Three weeks later, local detectives had arrested three suspects. Two men in their mid-20s. Kwabe and Zolili were the trigger men. The third, Zola Tongo, was a taxi Driver charged with setting up the hit. And in early December, the authorities told Annie's family they suspected her new husband, 30 year old Srian, of being the mastermind behind the entire plot. After getting their permission to move forward with the investigation, on December 7, the police got an official arrest warrant for Chien. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. At the time, he was back in the uk, living with his family in London. The Metropolitan Police executed the warrant and took him into custody on Cape Town's behalf. A few hours later, Chien was released on bail with an electronic ankle monitor. His family had hired a PR firm which put out a statement insisting that he was 100% innocent. But by then, his arrest was already front page news. And a week after Srian was let go on bond, a British tabloid called the sun reported the most sensational story of all. A male sex worker who called himself the German Master claimed that Srian had paid him for sadomasochistic sex. He said they met on three occasions in 2009 and 2010. Their last rendezvous took place only six months before the wedding. These revelations came at the same time that detectives in Cape Town were trying to figure out a potential motive. On the surface, it wasn't clear why Srian would have wanted to murder Annie. Yes, there were signs that he and Annie didn't have the happiest relationship. But at the time of her death, they'd only been married a week. And no one forced Trian into it. In fact, when Annie broke up with him months before the ceremony, he was the one who tried to win her back. So when the German master came forward with his accusations, a potential motive fell into the detective's laps. Because Srian came from a wealthy and conservative family, some people thought he was afraid to come out to his parents. The Cape Town police reasoned that Annie may have learned about his sexuality right before the honeymoon and threatened to either divorce or publicly embarrass him when they got back to the uk. There was no direct evidence for this theory, but it could explain why Srian may have wanted to kill her. Of course, not everyone agreed, and many people argued that Chien was simply a scapegoat for the Cape Town police. A few months earlier, South Africa had hosted the World Cup. The country was expecting a huge boost to its tourism industry when Annie was murdered at the beginning of the most popular travel season. Some residents and local politicians jumped at the chance to blame an outsider for ruining Cape Town's reputation. As time went on, the tension between both sides only ratcheted up and the people who suffered the most were Annie's loved ones. In January of 2011, two months after the murder, Cape Town attempted to extradite Srian from the UK to stand trial in South Africa. The process would drag on for years. Chian's lawyers argued that he was mentally unfit to travel and because he had been diagnosed with depression and was reportedly suicidal. At the many UK based court appearances that followed, Srian did appear to be distressed. He seemed like he was sedated, with a glazed, distant look in his eyes. And because of that, a judge repeatedly delayed the extradition efforts. In the meantime, legal proceedings against the the other men in the case continued. Zola had already pleaded guilty and bargained for a sentence of 18 years in prison. One of the hijackers, Kwabe, also took a deal. He pleaded guilty to kidnapping, robbery, murder and the illegal possession of a firearm. More importantly, he agreed to testify against Srien in exchange for his sentence being reduced from life and breach prison to 25 years. Then there was Monde, Zola's friend, who acted as a middleman. The police also offered him a deal, one with exceptionally good terms. Monde agreed to testify against Srian for complete immunity from prosecution. He would never serve a single day in prison. Police explained that they considered his cooperation a essential to their case against Srien. In an attempt to catch the biggest fish, they were willing to give him a sweetheart deal. The only person who didn't take a plea bargain was the second hijacker, Zolili, who was also charged with kidnapping, robbery and murder. He wasn't offered one because the cops didn't feel they needed him for their case against Chien. They already had the cooperation of the three other men, so his testimony wasn't necessary. In November of 2012, Zolili's case went to court where he pleaded not guilty. Some saw the proceedings as a rehearsal for the prosecution's future trial against Srien. In front of a judge, attorneys laid out a theory that fit with Zola's testimony. They argued that Zolilli and his co conspirator, Kouabe, planned to kill Annie from the beginning of the hijacking. Investigators could already tie Zolily to the scene because he left a full palm print on the windshield of the stolen vehicle. But their most compelling evidence was the testimony of his accomplice on the stand. Cobe said Zolily was the one who actually pulled the trigger. According to Kwabe, he was driving the taxi when Zolilli turned around and shot Annie in the chest from the passenger seat. The defense had a hard time arguing with that. When Zolily was first arrested, he admitted to police that he was involved in the hijacking and he didn't have an alibi that said otherwise. Still, Zolily's lawyers claim that his statements were coerced by by the police who were under intense pressure to solve such a high profile case. According to Zolilli, an officer even attempted to suffocate him with a plastic bag to pressure him into signing a confession. The police denied the assault accusations, but their alleged conduct wasn't the only reason that Zolilli insisted on pleading not guilty. Throughout the trial, he was adamant that he wasn't the shooter. He swore that Kwabe was the one who actually pulled the trigger. In the end, a judge disagreed. Zololi was found guilty of murder on December 5, 2012, he was given life in prison. In 2014, at 27 years old, he passed away from a brain tumor. While serving his sentence. Until his dying day, he maintained that he wasn't the one who shot Annie. By that point, it had been over three years since the murder and Chien's lawyers were still fighting the extradition. The longer the proceedings dragged on, the more frustrated everyone became. Annie's family felt like they couldn't get closure until Chrian stood trial. Her father Venod made several statements to the media imploring Srian to face the music or clear his name in court as soon as possible. Public sentiment in South Africa was strongly in favor of extradition. Too many still blame Chien for dragging their country's name through the mud. Over the years, the African Women's League held several marches outside the courthouse in London, encouraging the judges to stop delaying the inevitable. In March of 2014, they were finally successful. That month, a judge ruled that 34 year old Chien could be extradited to South Africa. The British government chartered a private jet to take the 34 year old back to Cape Town. According to police, on the flight there, Cherien hardly said a word. He found a window seat, threw a blanket over himself and slept the entire way. On April 7, the jet touched down and he was shuttled directly to the police station. There he was saddled with five charges. Conspiracy to commit kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, obstructing justice and murder. Even though he wasn't the one who pulled the trigger, in the eyes of the law, hiring a hitman would make him just as guilty as the actual killers. The terms of Chien's extradition meant he would need to be examined by doctors in Cape Town, and they would determine whether he was mentally fit to stand trial. So as soon as he arrived, he was shuttled to a psychiatric hospital, where he spent the next 30 days. After a month, doctors decided he could in fact stand trial. His court date was officially scheduled for October 6, 2014. When the day finally came, all eyes would be on Srien. But even with the whole world watching, no one expected what came next.
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hi listeners, it's Carter Roy. I wanted to take a moment to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love. America's Most Infamous Crimes. Hosted by Katie Ring. Each week Katie takes on a new notorious crime, whether unfolding now or etched into American history, revealing not just what happened, but how it forever changed our society. Serial killers who terrorize cities. Unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that change the way we think about justice. Each case unfolds across multiple episodes, released every Tuesday through Thursday, from the first sign that something was wrong to the moment the truth came out or didn't. These are the stories behind the headlines. Listen to and follow America's most infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. On October 6, 2014, 34 year old Srian Diwani was put on trial in Cape Town, South Africa. He faced five charges connected to the murder of his wife, 28 year old Annie, in 2010. Ahead of the proceedings, Annie's family had been careful to maintain a neutral stance in public. For years, they'd been encouraging Srian to tell his side of the story in court. Many of them had lingering questions about how he had behaved since the murder. Privately, some of her relatives believed he was guilty, but all they could really hope for was some closure. That had been hard to come by, especially since the tabloids had been dominated by headlines about Srian. Not any. In endless articles, they dissected his rich family, his sexual preferences, and his potential involvement in the murder. Annie's family hoped that in court, the emphasis would be on her instead. But on the first day of the proceedings, the media circus outside the courthouse was once again focused on Chien. The lead investigator, Police Captain Paul Hendrickse, described it as the most publicized trial he'd seen in 36 years with law enforcement. Not only were there reporters from around the world, but there were crowds of protesters, too. Even after four years, many South Africans were still heavily invested in Srian's case. For them, convicting him seemed to be a matter of national pride. Things got so extreme that the police escort who brought Chien from the mental hospital to the courthouse had to take extra precautions. Chien was so hated by the public that the liaison team genuinely believed someone might try to assassinate him on the road. Authorities even blocked off the path to the courthouse using chain link fences with dozens of guards posted along the route. When Chien eventually took his seat at the defense table, everyone could see that the past few years had changed him. His hair had gone from a slick black to a powder gray, and his complexion was noticeably paler than it had once been. Still, he seemed to be calm and alert. He sat up straight in a tailored suit, ignoring the reporters who were still shouting at him from the hall. But the real test was still to come. Unlike in the UK or in the us, there's no option for an accused person to have a trial by jury. In South Africa, judges and magistrates are the only ones who oversee criminal proceedings and make the decisions. So both Chien and the prosecution would have to present their arguments to a legal expert rather than a jury of peers. Other than that key difference, the South African court system is similar to its counterparts abroad. Going into the trial, the biggest challenge for the prosecution would be establishing Srian's motive. Legally speaking, they weren't required to provide one. But to convince a judge he was guilty, everyone knew the motive would be crucial. And so far, that was the one thing that journalists and the public couldn't really agree on. Before her death, Annie texted her cousin, saying she had doubts about her relationship. That suggested something was driving her and Sriann apart. But no one knew the specifics. Some believe the couple had a major fight behind closed doors that drove Srian to murder. Meanwhile, the media had spent the last few years focusing on the salacious details of his romances. Few people other than the sex worker who called himself the German Master were willing to publicly acknowledge their relationship with Srian. But there were rampant rumors that he had been involved with other men prior to his marriage. Because of that, the prosecution throws planned to focus on Srian's sexual preferences. They believed he was secretly gay and may have been pressured into a heterosexual relationship by his family. They plan to argue that in such a conservative environment, divorce wasn't an option. Chien was left feeling trapped in his new marriage and looking for a way out. The defense knew they would have to confront the speculation around Srian's sexuality head on. So far, he had avoided commenting on the rumors directly, mostly speaking through the PR firm he hired. He had categorically denied being gay, but had never clarified his preferences in direct terms before. That all changed in the defense's opening statement. Through his attorney, Srian announced that he was bisexual. He said he had been with both men and women in the past and confessed to paying for sex on more than one occasion. The admission kicked off the proceedings with a bombshell, but it also effectively torpedoed a key pillar of the prosecution's argument. Even if Cherie Ann had been in relationships with men before, that didn't mean he wasn't in love with Annie. By putting all his cards on the table from the get go, Chrian addressed the state's most damaging accusations. Even so, at that point, the prosecution couldn't back down from their original plan. For years, they had been building their case on the assumption that Chien was not bisexual but exclusively gay. Now he had put them in the awkward position of arguing with him about his own sexuality. To bolster their point, prosecutor Adrian Mopp submitted Srian's profile on the website Gaydar into evidence under the handle AsianSubGuy24. He described himself as a gay man who was filthy minded and perverted. There was also usage history showing that he was active on the site during his honeymoon, both before and after his wife's murder. In fact, just hours after Annie's body was found, he was messaging men on Gaydar from his hotel room while his father in law sat grieving in the lobby. These revelations dominated the the narrative during the first few days of the trial. But the most shocking testimony was yet to come because next the prosecution called the German master to the stand. He testified that he met with Chien on three occasions in 2009 and 2010. Their most recent link up was only six months before the marriage. The German master told the court that Srian even asked to sleep over at his place one night, which was an unusual request for a client. After that, the German master planned to testify that Schrien had mentioned that he was getting married. Apparently, Srian said he wasn't sure he could go through with it. But before the German master could complete his account, the defense objected because Schrian didn't dispute that he had paid male escorts for sex. His attorneys argued the witness was irrelevant to the case. While the prosecution claimed the German master's story was essential to establishing a motive, the judge disagreed. She ruled his testimony inadmissible. This was devastating for the prosecution. Without the German master's allegations that Cherien had cold feet, they couldn't prove that he wanted out of his marriage. But that didn't mean the case was totally lost. Another central piece of evidence was camera footage of Srian exchanging an envelope with the taxi driver Zola three days after the murder. In addition, police verified that the hijackers had also taken around $600 worth of South African currency when they robbed him, which they claimed was the agreed upon payout for their cut of the hit. Altogether, that amounted to about $900 US more money than people would usually carry around in South Africa at the time. If Srian didn't need it to pay off the hitmen, he had to explain why he had so much cash on hand. But the defense was prepared. They insisted that Chien wanted to arrange a surprise helicopter ride for himself and Annie. Chien claimed that he had asked Zola about the idea and negotiated the cost down to 900 bucks. The story took the prosecution by surprise. It was the first time in four years he had ever talked about a helicopter trip. And they definitely didn't believe him. Chrian never asked the staff at his five star hotel to book a trip for him and Annie. And right after the hijacking, he didn't tell the police about the gunman stealing $600 from him either. Instead, he only told detectives that they took his watch and his wallet, which had a much smaller amount of money inside. The problem was the prosecution hadn't prepared to dispute this helicopter theory. But luckily, they still had their most important witness. So they called him to the stand. Next. Zola Tango was the linchpin of the entire case, the only one who said he met with Chien in person and talked to him about murdering Annie. If he couldn't convince the court that Chien had hired him to set up the hit, then the prosecution had nothing to go on. But from the moment the defense cross examined Zola, he started fumbling. He couldn't explain why he hadn't asked Chien for more money. And Zola's cut amounted to a few fraction of his monthly salary as a driver. Plus, his taxi was impounded, cutting him off from his main source of income. The defense argued that it didn't make any sense for him to take such a major risk for such a paltry reward. On the stand, Zola also claimed that Trienn called him the day after the murder to discuss the details. But phone records showed that wasn't true. He was caught lying red handed. All in all, he simply wasn't a good witness. There were so many contradictions in his story that the defense applied for a special exemption called a Section 174 discharge. Under South African law, the defense can ask for an accused person to be acquitted if the prosecution fails to produce any reasonable evidence against them. In other words, if a judge rules that a conviction is impossible, they can stop a case early and dismiss it without requiring the defense to call any witnesses or testify themselves. The judge paused the proceedings for two weeks to consider the motion. During the delay, Annie's family publicly criticized Sherian and the press. For four years they had been waiting to hear the truth truth from him on the stand under oath. But if the Section 174 discharge went through, he wouldn't have to testify at all. Even so, most people expected the court to deny the motion. Granting a discharge was a strong statement, essentially acknowledging that the prosecution had no real case. It would also prevent the state from from ever trying Chien for murdering Annie in the future. So everyone was shocked when the judge returned two weeks later. On December 8, 2014, she stepped up to the bench to deliver a blistering critique of Zola Tongo. According to her, Zola gave evidence to the court that was so improbable and contained so many mistakes, lies and inconsistencies that one simply cannot know where the lies end and the truth begins. Without Zola Tongo, there was no one who could definitively say that Srian planned Annie's murder. So the judge granted the Section 174 discharge. Srian Diwani was officially a free man. The ruling caused outrage among Annie's family and the South African public. After all that time, they were denied a chance to see him cross examined, to listen to his personal account of the hijacking, Annie's relatives decided they weren't through trying to get justice. In 2015, they attempted to open an inquest into a murder in the uk, but in the end, a coroner denied the request because the crime took place in a foreign country. Three years after that, the family released their final public statement. This time, they acknowledged that they believed Chien was innocent, but they still felt he owed them an apology for hiding his sexuality from Annie. Since then, Sri an has done his best to stay out of the public eye. It's hard to imagine what he went through, losing his wife, having his private life exposed for the world to see, and being accused of murder. And though he's a free man, many continue to doubt his innocence. No one should have to deal with that kind of scrutiny for years on end. But the true tragedy is that all the focus on Sri Ann drew attention away from Annie. She was only 28 years old when she was shot down. She had so much life ahead of her and so much she still wanted to achieve. Because of the blame game and the plea deals that followed, we'll probably never know what actually happened to her that night. For her loved ones, living with that uncertainty is certainly difficult, though nothing is as difficult as living without Annie. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy and this is True Crime Stories. Come back next time for the story of a new murder and all the people it affected. True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Murder True Crime Stories. Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Murder True Crime Stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Friday. True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy, and is a Crime House original. Powered by Pave Studios. This episode is brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertofsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Tara Wells, Leah Roche, Cassidy Dillon and Russell Nash. Thank you for listening.
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thanks for listening to today's episode of Murder True Crime Stories. Not sure what to listen to next? Check out America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. From serial killers to unsolved mysteries and game changing investigations, each week Katie takes on a notorious criminal case in American history. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous Crimes now. Wherever you listen to podcasts.