Former Nigerian Olympic athlete Ambrose Monye was reportedly denied bail in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Friday.
|||Pretoria - Former Nigerian Olympic athlete Ambrose Monye was denied bail in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Friday, Eyewitness News reported.
Magistrate Edmund Patterson said Monye had played a significant role in the scheme to murder Chanelle Henning, according to the report.
Patterson, however, said he did not believe the former athlete was the mastermind of the November 8 drive-by shooting.
Henning was shot while driving along Manitoba Drive in Faerie Glen, Pretoria east. She had just dropped off her son at a crèche.
The magistrate said cellphone data presented to the court earlier corroborated the version given by Gerhardus du Plessis and Willem Pieterse, implicating Monye and co-accused Andre Gouws.
According to statements by Du Plessis and Pieterse, made in December, Monye hired them to carry out the hit. They were allegedly promised R10 000 each.
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.
Charges against Monye and Gouws were transferred from the magistrate's court to the High Court in Pretoria. The matter has been set down for trial from November 19 to 30.
Gouws was denied bail in March by a Pretoria magistrate.
Last month the fifth man arrested for the murder, Preshan Singh, was sentenced to five years in jail, suspended for five years. He supplied the gun that was used to kill Henning.
Adding to Singh's suspended sentence, the court ruled that he be placed under house arrest for the next three years. During this period, he would only be allowed to go to work and church. - Sapa
