Henning murder: the plot thickens
INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
Nico Henning holds his son Benjamin, 5, during Chanelle's funeral service. Picture: Phill Magakoe
Drugs have been ruled
out as a motive in the murder of Chanelle Henning, but the rumour mill
is in overdrive as police say they are primed to arrest the man who had
ordered the shooting of the 26-year-old teaching assistant.
While Nico Henning, the estranged
husband of Chanelle, is firmly in the public spotlight, officers say he
was not a suspect despite being questioned about the killing on Tuesday.
Nico Henning’s friend Andre Gouws is among the five men that have been arrested for the murder.
While police deny that the hit on
Chanelle was drug related, speculation is rife as to the reason for the
drive-by shooting of the young Pretoria mother only metres from her
son’s nursery school on November 8.
There is a web of intrigue around the motive for the killing.
Theories about the murder of
Chanelle, who had been involved in a messy divorce for the past three
years from her 45-year-old husband, are spreading like wildfire.
The couple appeared to have had a short and acrimonious marriage before separating amid a slew of abuse claims.
Was the murder a result of misguided loyalty by a friend? Was it because of drug trafficking and drug debt?
Was Chanelle killed to end a
custody battle that had seen the couple’s son being placed in foster
care for eight months before being released last year into the sole
custody of his mother?
Police have rubbished the drug
trafficking and drug debt claims. The Hennings’ five-year-old son was
this week again placed in foster care as the Pretoria High Court and
social workers decided whether custody would be granted to Chanelle’s
parents, Sharon and Ivan Saincic, or to his father.
Jacques Fourie, a family spokesman, denied the Saincic couple were fighting for custody of their grandson.
Fourie also knocked any drug
claims surrounding Chanelle, stating that she was an organ donor – “her
eyes have been donated and her bone tissue has gone to help many
people”.
“Drug tests are involved in all of this so any drug claims are absolute rubbish,” said Fourie.
Police spokesman Brigadier Neville
Malila and officials close to the investigation say Henning was not a
suspect, but added more arrests have not been ruled out.
A Pretoria police detective
Gerhardus du Plessis handed himself over to colleagues on Monday,
claiming he had pulled the trigger. The father of three had gone to the
Hercules police station, a short distance from his home, confessing to
the killing, but was only handed over to colleagues at the national
police office in Pretoria and officially arrested that night.
He appeared in court on Wednesday and the matter was postponed to next week for further investigation.
Du Plessis’s confession led to the
arrest of two other men – former Nigerian Olympic athlete and security
company owner Ambrose Monye and 24-year-old Pershan Singh – on Tuesday.
The same day the couple’s close friend Andre Gouws and Willem Marthinus
Pieterse were also arrested and Nico Henning handed himself over for
questioning.
Du Plessis, Singh, Monye, Gouws
and Pieterse will appear in court again on Wednesday on charges of
conspiracy to commit murder, murder and possession of an unlicensed
firearm and ammunition. A bail hearing will be held on November 29.
It was
alleged that Singh got the gun from drug addict Deon Schoeman, 20, who
also appeared in court in an unrelated case this week. He was accused of
stealing the murder weapon.
But Singh’s family said the
24-year-old’s only link to the crime was that the firearm was registered
in his name. It remained unclear who Schoeman was alleged to have
stolen the firearm from.
It was claimed that Gouws had
allegedly asked Monye to arrange the killing of his best friend’s
estranged wife, but that Gouws had been instructed to do so by an as yet
unnamed party.
Gouws’s long-time partner Estelle
Hepburn reacted angrily to the allegation that the man who had been the
best man at Nico and Chanelle’s wedding would be involved in the murder.
“I can categorically state that he
had nothing to do with the fact that Chanelle is dead. In fact, we are
all very good friends,” she said.
Hepburn also questioned why Gouws
and Pieterse, who were arrested on Tuesday, had not appeared in court
within the legally required 48 hours, and why Gouws had a fresh cut on
his face when he appeared in court on Friday.
“It is
not nice to be held in custody for such a long time. You can see he has
been roughed up,” she said as he was led into court.
Hepburn said she and Gouws had been friends of the Hennings for years.
“Nico and Andre have been best friends for about 20 years. Andre would not do something like this to him,” she said.
Those close to Monye confirmed he
had admitted to police and his legal team that he had been approached by
a person some time ago asking whether he could arrange the murder.
“He was approached but said he did
not do that kind of work so he referred the person to other people. He
gave the person names and numbers. But that was a long time ago,” a
source, who asked not to be named, said.
The person added that Monye had been cleared of any drug trafficking claims during an earlier road rage murder investigation.
A
court-ordered medical examination of Singh and Monye after allegations
of assault by the police confirmed that Monye had two cracked ribs.
Monye’s legal representative Andre
Swanepoel had on Thursday told the court that his client had been so
seriously beaten that he had to be injected “to revive him” and that he
was kicked in the ribs and in the head until he lost consciousness
during the interrogation.
The nature of Singh’s injuries was unclear.
“The statements of the accused have been made under duress,” the source said.
Henning’s parents, siblings and
friends remained mum about the murder this week, only appearing in
public for her funeral in Hartbeespoort on Monday.
The family had been advised by the
prosecution not to attend the court proceedings “because of the fragile
state of mind of the accused”.
Prosecutor Andrea Johnson would not clarify what this meant.
Henning’s sister, Monique Habberton, had earlier confirmed the five-year-old boy had seen his mother being shot.
“We are trying to cope. We
obviously have our ups and downs. It is basically just our faith which
is pulling us through this. The funeral is also taking its toll on us,”
she said shortly after the murder.
Habberton and friends on a Facebook tribute page described the young mother as a loving, friendly person.
On the Facebook page, a friend
warned the more than 100 people posting their tributes, to “be careful”
as to “what you say and whose name you use… you never know who might be
watching”.
This statement saw responses
including one stating “where pockets run deep, so do ears and eyes” and
another remarking “get your point! Personal safety”.
Among
the other comments were: “why?? why??? why???”, “So very sad and
pointless”, “I’m disgusted that one of them is a policeman. I hope they
get to the bottom of this and fast”, and “RIP Chanelle xx...you lived,
you learnt and you loved...now it’s time to rest. A beautiful person
taken way too soon”. - Sunday Tribune
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