'The Debt Collector' in court

18 November 2011 - 03:06 By GARETH WILSON, CHARL DU PLESSIS and PERTUNIA RATSATSI
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Alleged Nigerian druglord Ambrose Monye and co-accused Prestian Singh leave the Pretoria Magistrate's Court, where they will be tried in connection with the murder of Channel Henning. File photo
Alleged Nigerian druglord Ambrose Monye and co-accused Prestian Singh leave the Pretoria Magistrate's Court, where they will be tried in connection with the murder of Channel Henning. File photo
Image: PEGGY NKOMO

The fifth suspect arrested in connection with the shooting of Chanelle Henning is suspected of selling to the murderer the firearm used to kill the 26-year-old mother.

The man - who is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court this morning with another suspect - was arrested by undercover police in a bar in Despatch, Eastern Cape, on Wednesday night.

Insiders allege the man sold the gun to the killer gang.

It is understood that he fled Johannesburg to Despatch to live with his sister, who recently moved to the town. Her landlord, who asked not to be named, confirmed having met the man.

"He helped me fix my motorbike in the garage earlier this week," said the owner.

Two of the murder suspects appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court yesterday.

One of them is a former Nigerian Olympic sprinter, Ambrose Monye, reportedly known in the underworld as "The Debt Collector".

The motive for the murder is understood to be financial, with a person close to Henning said to owe money to one of the suspects.

Members of the intelligence community say that a notorious motorcycle gang, which has caused "mayhem in Pretoria for years", might be linked to the murder.

The first suspect to be arrested - Gerhardus du Plessis, a detective constable based at the Hercules police station in Pretoria - has allegedly confessed that he shot Henning while riding as a passenger on the back of a black motorbike in Faerie Glen.

It is now understood that the motorbike, which was found in Vereeniging on Wednesday, fits the description of one of the bikes used by the Pretoria motorcycle gang.

Monye, suspected of being a Nigerian drug lord, was a silver medallist in the Olympics 400m hurdles.

He and his co-accused, Preshan Singh, 24, were yesterday charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

He refused to cover his face with the jacket offered him by his lawyer when he left the court.

Monye vowed he would be out of prison soon. On Wednesday last week he was acquitted on an unrelated charge of murder.

He was alleged to have killed Neville Olivier with a single punch while fighting with him about a parking bay near the Menlyn Park shopping centre, in Pretoria East.

One of his lawyers, Peter Jay, said that that murder charge related to an incident in which Monye was attacked by four men, including Olivier, and acted in self-defence.

"He was acquitted because the court found that there was no evidence that he killed Olivier intentionally," Jay said.

Jay refuted claims that Monye had confessed to Henning's murder, saying he had merely made a statement to police.

In court yesterday, Monye asked for medical attention, claiming he had been severely assaulted by the police.

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