Human Interest
Jayde Panayiotou murder: Middleman applies for his release on bail─── 08:41 Tue, 22 May 2018
The bail hearing of Luthando Siyoni, the self-confessed middleman who helped to plan the murder of Jayde Panayiotou on behalf of her husband Christopher, is expected to start in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
He was arrested in KwaZakhele at the start of May, several months after Judge Dayalin Chetty revoked his immunity as a Section 204 witness in the Eastern Cape High Court in Port Elizabeth in November, last year.
Judge Chetty harshly criticised Siyoni's conduct and in the judgment, the judge called his testimony "a cocktail of lies, perjury and contrivances" designed to advance Christopher Panayiotou's defence.
He faces a charge of murder for his role in the abduction and murder of the school teacher.
Jayde was abducted in front of her Stellen Glen home on April 21, 2015. She was then taken to a remote area, where she was shot three times - twice in the back and once in the head.
Panayiotou and Sinethemba Nenembe were found guilty of her murder, while Zolani Sibeko was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
A fourth accused, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, died in a Port Elizabeth hospital in September 2016, before the trial began.
Panayiotou, Nenembe and Sibeko's applications for leave to appeal their convictions were dismissed in the High Court on Thursday.
Panayiotou's defence team indicated that they would petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
