British businessman accused of organising wife's murder is to arrive in Cape Town next week after losing extradition battle

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A British man accused of organising his wife's murder while on honeymoon will be detained in a high-security psychiatric hospital with some of South Africa's most notorious killers and rapists when he is extradited next week.

Shrien Dewani, a businessman from Bristol, faces months under surveillance at Valkenberg hospital in Cape Town as he awaits trial over the death of his Swedish wife, Anni, in November 2010. He fought a court battle against extradition on the basis that he was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

South Africa's Times newspaper reported on Friday that "security has been beefed up and a new security company appointed" at Valkenberg before Dewani's arrival.

"When the Times visited the hospital yesterday five guards were monitoring and searching vehicles entering the premises, compared with three guards last week," it continued. "A worker said staff had been told of Dewani's arrival this week."

The hospital has a grim reputation. A 2006 article in South Africa's respected Mail & Guardian newspaper noted: "While hospital staff and provincial government officials are at pains to point out that it is a hospital, it resembles a prison, with its bleak buildings, visitor body searches, the sounds of clanging steel gates and burly security guards.

"Staff are also quick to point out that the stark rooms accommodating some of South Africa's most violent criminals – mostly murderers and rapists – are a huge improvement on the previously overcrowded and filthy wards."

Dewani, 33, is expected to arrive in Cape Town on Tuesday morning. Two senior officials from an elite police unit, known as the Hawks, and a South African doctor and nurse will accompany him on board British Airways flight BA0059 at Heathrow airport at 9.30pm on Monday, according to the Times.

The Times quoted a police source saying that details of Dewani's flight had been blocked on the country's border movement control system except to those with high security clearances.

He will land at 9.55am local time on Tuesday in Cape Town where, South Africa's justice department said, he will "immediately be escorted to Western Cape high court where he is expected to make his first appearance in a South African court of law".

Dewani denies any involvement in the killing of 28-year-old Anni, who was shot as couple's taxi was apparently carjacked in Gugulethu township in Cape Town. He claims the couple were kidnapped at gunpoint and he was released unharmed.

A South African man, Xolile Mngeni, was convicted of the murder and jailed for life. Zola Tongo, a taxi driver, was jailed for 18 years after he admitted his part in the killing while another accomplice, Mziwamadoda Qwabe, pleaded guilty to murder and received a 25-year prison sentence.

The pair testified that Dewani had arranged the murder, but concerns have been raised over the conduct of the police investigation, including allegations of torture.