Magistrate Este Petzer was the first witness called to the stand on Monday morning. She told the court how she visited the alleged middleman Luthando Siyoni in August of 2016, while he was in protective custody at the Humewood police station.
She told the court that Siyoni seemed relaxed and only complained about the fact that his family could only visit him every second week and that State Prosecutor Marius Stander did not visit him.
Petzer says she went to see Siyoni twice and went on her own the first time when he told her that she smelled nice and asked her what perfume she used.
Petzer told him to refrain from any personal comments.
During cross examination defence advocate Terry Price only asked Petzer one question as to when she was asked to make an affidavit. She was asked earlier this month.
The State next called the lead investigator Captain Kanna Swanepoel to the stand. He gave a detailed explanation on the events leading up to the meeting between Christopher Panayiotou and the alleged middleman Luthando Siyoni.
Swanepoel de-activated the caller ID of his phone and gave it to Siyoni who made 13 calls to Christoper Panayiotou. Seven calls went to voicemail and only six were answered. Swanepoel says the last call they made was answered by Panayiotou's friend Donovan Vosloo.
Swanepoel told the court that their plan was not working as they wanted to get to a point where Panayiotou would agree to a meeting. Siyoni was taken back to his cells to eat and rest, while police discussed a new gameplan.
Swanepoel says their plan got new life when Panayiotou phoned Siyoni's phone from an 081 number. It was later established that this was from a phone which was seized in Panayiotou's Ford Fiesta on the night of his arrest.
Swanepoel says a meeting was finally agreed upon but the vehicle they wanted to use in the sting operation was enroute back to East London. They made an urgent request to have the vehicle returned and asked Siyoni to buy then some time by telling Panayiotou that he was in Jeffrey's Bay.
The State had no further questions for Swanepoel. Price told the court that Stander intends on calling another three witnessess and he asked the Judge to allow him to deal with them first as his cross examination of Swanepoel would take a long time.
The trial continues.
(Doreen Loubser, Algoa FM News)
