Shrien Dewani: Revelations of gay sex and liaisons with male hookers helped his case {of Killing Wife}

Shrien Dewani: How revelations of a gay double life and liaisons with male prostitutes helped his case

Shrien Dewani is cleared of arranging the murder of his new bride, Anni, after the judge torpedoes the prosecution case and rules evidence of his gay double life is not admissible   

 Leopold Leisser,right, shopping in Cape Town after giving evidence in the Shrien Dewani trial, right Photo: MIKE BEHR/NOBLE/DRAPER   

The revelation that Shrien Dewani was a secret bisexual, who cavorted with male prostitutes, was intended to be the prosecution’s trump card. 

But when the defence team beat them to the sucker punch, by introducing the evidence as part of Mr Dewani’s own witness statement, it completely undermined the state's case.

 But when the defence team beat them to the sucker punch, by introducing the evidence as part of Mr Dewani’s own witness statement, it completely undermined the state's case.  Prosecutors in South Africa believed revealing details of his double life would demonstrate the all-important motive for why a husband would want to kill his wife on their honeymoon.  But after considering Mr Dewani’s candid admissions about his private life as part of his plea explanation, the judge ruled that much of the evidence was inadmissible or irrelevant.  In a document submitted to the court, Mr Dewani described himself as a “bisexual” and admitted he had slept with male prostitutes.  One of the key witnesses the prosecution had lined up, was a male escort called Leopold Leisser, who went by the name, The German Master.  Charging up to £5,000 for sex sessions, he was due to expose the true extent of the deceit surrounding Mr Dewani’s double life.  Mr Leisser had alleged that Mr Dewani paid £400 a time for liaisons after they met on the homosexual website, Gaydar. 

He was expected to tell the court that the businessman enjoyed racial humiliation and fetish sex sessions, but the judge ruled the evidence was not admissible. 

A quirk in the South African judicial process, had allowed Mr Dewani to address the issue of his “double life”, in a statement to the court before the prosecution were able to lay a glove on him. 

In his statement Mr Dewani explained: “I have had sexual interaction with both males and females. I consider myself to be bisexual. My sexual interactions with males were mostly physical experiences or email chats with people I met online or in clubs, including prostitutes such as Leopold Leisser. 

“My sexual interactions with females were usually during the course of relationships.” 

The prosecution also wanted to introduce emails found on Mr Dewani’s laptop which described how he was in turmoil about whether to come out about his sexuality. 

But Judge Jeanette Traverso ruled that the emails, which had been written in 2009, did not have anything to do with the murder which took place the following year. 

When the state’s star witness, cab driver Zola Tongo, was dismissed by the judge as being “inconsistent” and "making no sense", the collapse of the case was inevitable.

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent

 telegraph.co.uk