Henning psychologist was watched
|Published
07.02.2012.André Gouws walking out of the Pretoria Magistrate Court after his case was postponed Picture: Sizwe Ndingane 07.02.2012.André Gouws walking out of the Pretoria Magistrate Court after his case was postponed Picture: Sizwe Ndingane
The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday heard that one of the five men accused in the murder of Chanelle Henning kept the offices of a psychologist who had been appointed to evaluate Chanelle, her husband Nico and their child under surveillance.
But it is not clear who ordered former police officer André Gouws to keep watch on the offices.
Henning was shot dead by two men on a motorbike just after dropping her son off at a nursery school in Faerie Glen on November 8.
She and her husband were separated and involved in a custody battle over the boy.
Gouws’s defence counsel, Anel Jacobs, told the court that her client kept the psychologist’s offices under surveillance after he became worried that there was “outside influence”, which contravened a court (Pretoria High Court) order.
Jacobs said her client saw Chanelle’s mother (Shanon Saincic) accompanying the boy to the evaluation sessions.
According to Jacobs, Gouws compiled an affidavit – “on how the court order was contravened” – which he gave to the father’s advocate.
Jacobs, who on Tuesday continued with her cross-examination of investigating officer Petrus van der Spuy, challenged some of the statements Van der Spuy made in his evidence-in-chief.
These included the fact that Gouws had a number of cases pending against him, including arson and intimidation, and the claim that he did not have respect for the law.
Jacobs argued that Gouws has not been charged and that he was previously granted police bail after it was found that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to proceed with the intimidation case which was opened by his former business partner, Deon Joubert.
She further argued that Gouws was not a flight risk and that his interests were vested in SA.
Van der Spuy said Gouws carried two passports – a South African one and an American one – and that it was easy to flee the country via Botswana or Zimbabwe.
“It will be easy for him to cross over these borders and apply for an American passport in either Botswana, Namibia or Zimbabwe,” said Van der Spuy, adding that Gouws did not have any financial interests in the country.
Jacobs argued that Gouws’s mother and two sisters were still in SA and that his ex-wife and children were also in the country.
Van der Spuy insisted that Gouws was a flight risk, adding that the State had to finalise the Henning murder case before it proceeded with the other outstanding matters against him.
He declined to name the investigating officer in the intimidation and arson case against Gouws.
Jacobs said the State did not have a strong case (arson and intimidation) against his client.
She added that Gouws had ”accidentally” shot his former wife Denise.
“As a trained ex-policeman, who scored 96 percent in weapons training, he could have done a good job if he wanted to shoot someone,” said Jacobs.
Van der Spuy added that as a trained ex-policeman, Gouws should not have let a shot go off “accidentally”.
Jacobs claimed that Gouws had caught Denise in bed with another man in the couple’s house before the alleged shooting and that their divorce was “messy”.
She also claimed that Gouws was assaulted after his arrest in Machadodorp, Mpumalanga, last year and that his friend Estelle Hepburn took pictures of the injuries after the police had refused his (Gouws’s) request that his injuries “be noted”.
Hepburn, who sat behind Gouws in the courtroom on Tuesday, was named by Van der Spuy as one of the State witnesses.
Gouws’s bail application is expected to continue on February 15. - Pretoria News