Biker gunman claims life of young mother

09 November 2011 - 02:17 By SIPHO MASOMBUKA
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The young woman murdered yesterday after dropping her son off at his preschool had told her father that a motorcyclist had followed her to work on Monday.

Chanelle Henning's father, Irvin Saincic, 49, told his daughter to be careful.

But two people on the same bike were waiting for her yesterday at about 7am outside her home in the Pretoria suburb of Faerie Glen. Minutes later, the bike came racing up behind her as she pulled out of the driveway of the Morning Star Montessori Preschool.

One of the two people on the bike fired three shots at her, hitting her once under the right arm, and sped off as the bullet ripped into her chest.

Henning, 26, then drove over a metal dustbin and a road sign on the pavement. Her white Hyundai i20 hatchback came to a halt after hitting several rocks about 200m down the road.

Henning family spokesman Jacques Fourie said: "She was concerned when she called her dad about the motorbike following her. Her dad told her to look out for the bike yesterday morning so that something could be done if it showed up again, but now it is too late to do anything."

The chairman of the local neighbourhood watch, Fanus Johnson, said residents told him that the same motorbike was waiting near the school before the shooting. He said neighbours and other bystanders pulled Henning out of the car and tried to resuscitate her but "it seems she was dead already when she was pulled out of the car".

Children at the school , unaware of the tragedy outside, could be heard playing on the swings in the playground behind high walls. Among them was Henning's five-year-old son, who has still not been told that his mother is dead.

Devastated family members and friends hugged each other in the street and prayed near Henning's body.

She had recently found a job as a teaching assistant at Woodhill College, east of Pretoria.

Her mother, Sharon, 44, was inconsolable and, after the mortuary van drove off with her eldest daughter's body, she staggered towards the spot where the body had lain, sat down and wept.

Fourie said the murder was senseless and described Henning as a "soft-spoken" person who was going through a "difficult time".

He said Henning was estranged from her businessman husband of four years, Nico, who is in his 40s.

"They were locked in a lengthy divorce process and, as you know, any divorce is not pretty, so she was going through a rough patch."

Fourie asked anyone with information that could help the police in their investigation to come forward.

The police yesterday dismissed speculation that the shooting was a contract killing.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Duane Lightfoot said: "We are following all leads and hope to make an arrest soon.

"At this stage, all we know now is from eye witnesses who saw shots being fired at the car from a motorcycle with two [ riders]."

Henning's neighbourhood is covered by surveillance cameras and one was facing the scene of the shooting.

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