Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Case against Panayiotou witness withdrawn
THE girlfriend of a man who allegedly hired hitmen to kidnap and kill Jayde Panayiotou is off the hook, for now.
Babalwa Breakfast was back in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday, facing charges of perjury and defeating the ends of justice.
However, the case against her was provisionally withdrawn, pending the outcome of Christopher Panayiotou’s murder trial.
Panayiotou and co-accused, Sinethembe Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko are charged with the murder of the businessman’s schoolteacher wife, Jayde.
Breakfast, represented by defence attorney Ryno Scholtz, was accompanied to court yesterdayby her boyfriend Luthando Siyoni.
She was arrested in October shortly after she was declared a hostile witness and excused from the stand, where she was testifying in the murder trial.
Siyoni was employed by Panayiotou as a bouncer at his Infinity nightclub.
The State alleged Panayiotou paid Siyoni to hire hitman Sizwe Vumazonke to kidnap and murder Jayde.
Siyoni, a section 204 witness, was also declared hostile during his time in the dock.
During the trial, Breakfast told the court she had stashed money in her old school socks and counted the cash after being told to do so by her boyfriend.
She said Siyoni had told her the money was for “renovating a gym” he ran in Zwide.
But her evidence contradicted her affidavits.
An excerpt from Breakfast’s first statement made to police on April 27 2015, reads: “According to Thando, Chris wanted him to kill his wife (Chris’s wife) and that he told him that he cannot do that but he can organise people that can do that for him.
“In April, but I am not sure of the date, Thando has again informed me that he has found a guy that he called Sizwe who told him that he would kill the said lady for him.
“According to Thando the person that would successfully do the job for Chris would be paid an amount of R50 000.”
During her testimony she denied the contents of her statements made to police.
Her answers to the prosecution were: “I don’t know this”, “I don’t recall” or “No, I never said this.”
The state believed Breakfast was lying under oath and subsequent to her giving evidence, she was arrested on perjury charges. – ANA