Henning killing ‘a cold-blooded assassination’

Young mother Chanelle Henning’s killing was a “cold-blooded assassination”, according to prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

He said an inference could be drawn from the evidence presented before court that former police officer Andre Gouws, a friend of Chanelle’s estranged husband, Nico, was the mastermind behind Henning’s killing.

“But the question is: why did he want her killed?”

He told the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court that Gouws was penniless, homeless and jobless, and had lied to the court when he said that his company had suffered financial loss since his arrest.

According to Nel, the State had checked the profile of the company and found that it did not have a single client.

“(Gouws) lied… he is penniless, jobless and his company was struggling financially for a while. He failed to pay his bond,” said Nel.

His house had since been sold on auction.

“We are dealing with a penniless man who killed someone (Henning) who was on her way to earn a living”.

Nel argued that Gouws was a danger to society and that it would not be in the interests of society to release him on bail.

“While the State has played open cards with the court, the applicant has failed to do so,” he said.

Nel said it was interesting to note that on the day Henning was shot dead, Gouws moved between Centurion and Sunnyside, where he met up with one of his co-accused, Ambrose Monye.

Henning died in a drive-by shooting on November 8 minutes after dropping her child at a crèche in Faerie Glen.

Nel argued that Gouws could have been with his “good friend”, Nico, whose wife had just been shot. But instead of phoning Henning, he phoned Monye 11 times, said Nel.

He said Gouws had failed to dispute that his Ford Bantam bakkie had been in the Faerie Glen area a few days before Henning’s murder.

Cellphone records also indicate that he was in the area on the days his vehicle was captured on CCTV surveillance cameras.

Gouws’s “silence” on evidence that placed him in key locations in the conspiracy to kill Henning “was deafening”.

Nel said it was clear from the evidence presented before court that Gouws stalked Henning and compiled a report that he presented to Nico.

“It is clear that Gouws knew where (Henning) stayed and that he contacted Monye before she was shot dead,” he said.

Nel said there was no doubt that Gouws stalked Henning.

“But the question is who contracted Gouws?

“We are dealing here with an unbelievably wicked person who got involved in (the Hennings’) custody battle.”

Nel said it was not surprising that Gouws and Monye had contacted confessed drug addicts Gerhardus du Plessis and Willem Pieterse for the hit on Henning. These two men are serving 18 years each.

But Gouws’s legal representative, Anel Jacobs, argued that the State did not have a strong case against her client and it was not in the interests of justice to keep him imprisoned.

She said that Gouws’s life was in danger as he had been threatened by fellow awaiting-trial prisoners at Pretoria Central Prison.

It was also alleged that Gouws had been assaulted by prison officials.

“His injuries have been recorded by the district surgeon,” said Jacobs.

Gouws had suffered financial loss since his arrest and his girlfriend, Estelle Hepburn, and his mother were struggling to make ends meet, she said.

Jacobs said the State’s case was based on the evidence of two confessed drug addicts and there were discrepancies in their evidence.

Unlike Du Plessis and Pieterse, her client was not willing to enter into a plea bargain with the State, which would determine the terms for the plea agreement.

Gouws is to know on March 2 if he is being granted bail.

Preshan Singh and Monye joined Gouws in the dock yesterday. The trio face charges of conspiracy to murder, murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

The case was postponed to March 29.

Monye, who has abandoned his bail application, indicated that he would apply for bail later. - Pretoria News

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