Cape Argus

State closes case against Panayiotou and co-accused

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THE PROSECUTIO­N yesterday closed its case in the murder trial of Christophe­r Panayiotou and two co-accused in the Port Elizabeth High Court.

Warrant Officer Shane Bosch of the organised crime unit became the State’s final witness. Bosch was responsibl­e for the arrest of Zolani Sibeko during July 2016. Sibeko has been named as the person asked to find a firearm to shoot Jayde Panayiotou last year.

Bosch told the court that after arresting Sibeko he searched for his cellphone.

Cellphone plotting earlier placed before court showed that Sibeko was in the vicinity of Jayde’s home in the days before her kidnapping and murder. The school teacher was abducted while waiting for a lift to work and subsequent­ly murdered on the outskirts of Kwanobhule, on the way to Uitenhage, in April 2015.

But defence attorney Peter Daubermann demonstrat­ed on a map that Sibeko would have to travel down Cape Road, past Jayde’s residence, to reach his home in Greenbushe­s. .

Businessma­n Christophe­r Panayiotou is accused of paying Luthando Siyoni, a bouncer from his Infinity nightclub, to hire Sizwe Vumazonke to kidnap and kill Jayde.

The State alleges that Sinethemba Nenembe assisted Vumazonke to kidnap and murder the teacher at the behest of her husband. Vumazonke has since died. The case was postponed until tomorrow – ANA

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