Mediator in Jayde killing in court
THE SELF-confessed middleman, who helped arrange the murder of Port Elizabeth schoolteacher Jayde Panayiotou on behalf of her husband Christopher, appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The case was postponed to May 18 for a formal bail application.
Luthando Siyoni was arrested earlier this week after more than six months on the run. He is facing a charge of murder after his immunity from prosecution was revoked.
Siyoni, who had worked for businessman Christopher Panayiotou, confessed to his role in sourcing a hit man, and implicated Panayiotou as the one behind the plan.
In his Section 204 statement, Siyoni described how he had been approached by Panayiotou to source a hit man, and how, after a few failed attempts, he contracted Sizwe Vumazonke to commit the act. Vumazonke subsequently died in hospital.
But Siyoni, who was the prosecution’s star witness, recanted his statements made to police and refused to answer any of State advocate Marius Stander’s questions at the trial-within-a-trial.
Siyoni’s about-turn followed that of his girlfriend Babalwa Breakfast, who was arrested last year and charged with perjury after she deviated from her statement to police in which she had said her boyfriend had told her about Panayiotou’s plans to have his wife killed. Siyoni and Breakfast were declared hostile witnesses.
During the trial, Siyoni’s lawyer, Zolile Ngqeza, had advised him not to answer questions that could be self-incriminating, even though a Section 204 witness is expected to be truthful about the events in question.
In the undercover police sting operation video, Panayiotou is seen and heard talking to Siyoni about the hit on Jayde’s life.
The court found that the video laid bare Panayiotou’s complicity.
Siyoni’s conduct was criticised by Judge Dayalin Chetty who, in his judgment, called his testimony “a cocktail of lies, perjury and contrivances” designed to advance Panayiotou’s defence.
Panayiotou and Sinethemba Nenembe were found guilty of Jayde’s murder, while Zolani Sibeko was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
Jayde Panayiotou went missing on April 21, 2015. She was abducted outside her Stellen Glen Complex in Kabega Park while waiting for her lift and subsequently murdered on the outskirts of KwaNobuhle. – African News Agency (ANA)
THE COURT FOUND THAT THE VIDEO LAID BARE PANAYIOTOU’S COMPLICITY