Henning murder: Possible plea deal

2012-07-17 13:16

Gavel (Shuttertstock)

Pretoria - A plea bargain settlement relating to charges against Preshan Singh would soon be finalised, the Pretoria Magistrate's Court heard on Tuesday.

Singh is one of the five men arrested last year in connection with the drive-by fatal shooting of assistant school teacher Chanelle Henning, 26.

During Singh's brief appearance on Tuesday, the matter was postponed to July 26 and transferred to a different courtroom for finalisation, at the request of prosecutor Andre Johnson.

Johnson told the court the paperwork relating to the deal was complete and only needed to be signed.

Two of the five men are already serving jail terms following plea bargain negotiations with the State.

In December, Willem Pieterse and a Pretoria police detective, Gerhardus du Plessis pleaded guilty to Henning’s murder. They were each given 18-year jail terms.

Charges against two other accused, Ambrose Monye and Andre Gouws, were moved to the North Gauteng High Court. The matter would be heard from November 19 to 30.

Gouws was recently denied bail. Monye’s was postponed last week to July 24. The muscular former Nigerian Olympic athlete previously told the court the police assaulted him, injected him, and gave him drugs.

Two men on a motorbike shot Henning dead as she was driving along Manitoba Drive in Faerie Glen, east of Pretoria, on 8 November 2011. She had just dropped off her child at a pre-school.

- SAPA