George Herald | Monye quizzed over assault claims

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Monye quizzed over assault claims
12:21 (GMT+2), Thu, 28 June 2012

NATIONAL NEWS - Nigerian Ambrose Monye lied by claiming that police assaulted him after his arrest for the murder of a Pretoria mother, the city's magistrate's court heard on Thursday.

"Your version is a lie," prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the former Olympian athlete.

Monye, 38, faces an array of charges, including murder, relating to the November 2011 drive-by shooting of Chanelle Henning.

Nel put it to Monye that the doctor who treated him said in his report he had no fractures or bruises of any kind.

Speaking through an interpreter, Monye replied: "My wrist was broken. Even now my hand is still swollen. The police also injected me and gave me drugs."

Nel: "You complained of a headache and the investigating officer (Captain Petrus Van der Spuy) gave you Panados. Isn't that so? That was done to help you."

Monye: "I was given those Panados the day after I had been injected by police. I asked them to take me to hospital, then he (Van der Spuy) offered me painkillers."

Nel asked Monye to explain his claim that he got an injection.

"I was in handcuffs at the time. Somebody pulled my pants down and I was injected with drugs. We were in a room full of police officers."

Monye told the court he had not known Henning before the November 8 murder, and neither had he met her estranged husband Nico.

"I don't know him. Even if I see him now, I wouldn't recognise him. I have never met him."

Nel told the court that Monye's security company, Big Dog Security, was not registered with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority.

At the end of the cross-examination, Nel submitted that Monye would abscond if released on bail, because he faced a lengthy jail term if convicted.

Later on Thursday, Monye was expected to give further evidence led by his lawyer, Jeff Ledwaba.

Monye, Andre Gouws, Preshan Singh, Willem Pieterse and Pretoria police detective Gerhardus du Plessis were arrested in November for killing Henning.

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

In December last year 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.

Singh, currently out on bail, is negotiating with the prosecution about a possible plea bargain deal.

Source : Sapa