Abrupt halt to Panayiotou trial as middleman's girlfriend testifies

The murder trial of Christopher Panayiotou was brought to an abrupt halt on Wednesday morning.

The prosecution requested an adjournment after the girlfriend of the state’s Section 204 witness told the court that the money discovered in Luthando Siyoni’s gym bag after Jayde’s murder was meant for the renovations of his gym.

Babalwa Breakfast - who counted the cash‚ divided it into three separate piles and then placed the money inside a pair of socks - said when she asked Siyoni about the large amount of cash‚ he told her it was money he made via his gym in Zwide‚ and his job working as a bouncer.

It is the state’s case that Panayiotou paid Siyoni to hire hitmen to kidnap and kill Jayde on April 21 last year.

Siyoni has since confessed to his involvement.

In an affidavit presented to the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court earlier this year‚ arresting officer Captain Willie Mayi told how Breakfast was the first one to crack while being questioned by police‚ telling them everything she knew about the Uitenhage school teacher’s death.

It has always been the state’s case that the money found in Siyoni’s gym bag – and later seized by police – was meant to pay Sizwezakhe Vumazonke for the hit.

Court resumes at 2.15pm.

 - TMG Digital/The Herald