Monye takes stand in bail bid

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

Ambrose Monye leaves court after appearing in connection with Chanelle Hennings murder. The high court trial is to begin in November. Photo: Sizwe Ndingane

Former Nigerian Olympic athlete Ambrose Monye took the witness stand on Friday to give evidence at the beginning of his bail application in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court.

Monye faces an array of charges, including murder, relating to the drive-by fatal shooting of young Pretoria mother Chanelle Henning.

The soft-spoken muscular athlete told the court that he is a South African citizen and had denounced his Nigerian citizenship “some years ago”.

Speaking through an interpreter, Monye told the court that he has a seven-year-old son who stays in Bloemfontein. He said in February 2001 he married a South African woman, who died “some three years ago”.

Monye, 38, said he has a South African passport and identity document, which were seized by the police upon his arrest.

He said he owns a security company called Big Dog Security which is formally registered with the South African authorities.

The company was registered in 2007 and employs 16 people in the security sector, said Monye.

Charges against Monye and co-accused Andre Gouws would be heard in the High Court in Pretoria from November 19 until 30.

Monye was previously cautioned in court to make “concrete arrangements” for his legal representation before his matter was heard in the superior court.

He had run into financial problems which resulted in his initial lawyers abandoning him.

Together with Gouws, Monye faces charges of murder, conspiracy to murder, and illegal possession of a firearm.

Monye, Gouws, Preshan Singh, Willem Pieterse and Pretoria police detective Gerhardus du Plessis were arrested in November for killing Henning.

Two men on a motorbike shot the woman dead as she was driving along Manitoba Drive in Faerie Glen, east of Pretoria. She had just dropped off her child at a pre-school.

In December last year, Pieterse and Du Plessis pleaded guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy to murder and illegal possession of a firearm relating to the Henning case. They are each serving an 18-year jail term for their roles in the murder. – Sapa