The case against Bristol businessman Shrien Dewani has finally begun after four long years of legal battles and delays in front of a packed courtroom.
The 34-year-old businessman from Westbury-on-Trym has fought every stop of the way to avoid the trauma of appearing before a court in South Africa to face charges that he plotted the murder of his young wife Anni while the couple were on their honeymoon.
But within minutes of the trial starting yesterday, intimate details of Dewani's sex life and luxurious lifestyle were laid bare.
His opening gambit in a case which has already commanded international media attention was to declare he is a bisexual who used male prostitutes.
In a statement read out by his lawyer he went on to describe his turbulent relationship with Anni and the preparations for their sumptuous £200,000 wedding in India.
And for the first time a reason was given publicly why Dewani had gone with taxi driver Zola Tongo – who has already admitted involvement in Anni's murder – to take a large amount of cash to an unofficial money-changer.
He claims the money was to pay for a surprise helicopter trip for his wife.
A clearly emotional Dewani sat and listened with the rest of the court as a detailed description of the terrifying and violent robbery which ended in the death of Anni was read out in court.
As well as the dozens of assembled journalists in the courtroom the loved ones of the couple listened in stunned silence for more than an hour as the graphic details of their stormy relationship and their final hours together were made public.
And even more pain was to come for Anni's family when a video was screened, showing the 28-year-old's body slumped in the back seat of the taxi where she met her violent death.
Anni, who originally came from Sweden but was in the middle of planning a new life with her husband in Bristol, was shot in the neck by robbers.
Dewani had whisked her in a private jet to Paris to propose – but over the following months the couple almost split up on several occasions.
Anni described her fiance as controlling. Just two months before the wedding she called the engagement off only for her father to intervene and help to reconcile the couple.
But the three-day wedding went ahead and within a matter of days Dewani was whisking his new wife away to South Africa on first-class flights.
The couple spent several days at game lodge in the Kruger National Park before flying on to Cape Town, where they stayed at the five-star Cape Grace hotel in the heart of the tourist area.
Just two days later Anni had been murdered in what appeared to be a robbery that had gone wrong.
But investigators claim that Dewani used his wealth to plan and pay for the murder of his young wife.
A taxi driver and two other men have already been jailed for their part in the killing – at least one of them, driver Zola Tongo, is expected to give evidence in the coming days.
On the night of Anni's death her new husband claimed he was trying to organise a surprise helicopter trip with the help of Tongo.
Dewani was carrying around a large amount of cash – around £1,000 in South African currency – and there were a series of messages and phone-calls between the businessman and the man he was using as a driver.
The two men were in constant contact throughout the two days leading up to Anni's death and he suggested places to visit.
In his statement Dewani said: "I asked him where I could organise a private helicopter trip as a surprise for Anni. He said that would not be a problem as he had contacts."
In the aftermath of Anni's death the two men spoke again and Dewani said he gave the driver 1,000 Rand, around £53, because he felt sorry for him.
But Anni's parents, Vinod and Nilma Hindocha, are still calling for answers and have described as "torture" their four-year wait to hear how their daughter was killed just days after her wedding.
Prosecutors have claimed Dewani plotted with Zola Tongo, Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni to kill his wife. Taxi driver Tongo, Qwabe and Mngeni are already serving jail terms in connection with the murder.