PORT ELIZABETH, October 24 (ANA) – An expert witness who has extensive knowledge in car-tracking, described the movements of a driver in the run-up to the day Jayde Panayiotou was allegedly kidnapped outside her Stellen Glen Complex in Port Elizabeth last year.
Lorenz Stoger, who works as Data Analyst at Cartracking, testified on the 9th day of the ongoing trial against Jayde’s husband Christopher Panayiotou and his two-coaccused Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko.
In giving evidence on Monday, Stoger told the Port Elizabeth High Court how the car in question, a Toyota Etios, traveled to Ruth Street in Newton Park on a number of occasions during the early hours of the morning between 6am and 7am.
The journeys took place a week before Jayde’s alleged kidnapping and subsequent murder, and according to Stoger the vehicle would at times travel at less that 23km/hour while in Ruth Street.
Jayde’s close friend and colleague, Cherise Swanepoel, who liftclubbed with the school teacher, at the time lived in Ruth Street, Newtown Park.
The State has alleged that the alleged triggerman, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, who is now deceased, fetched Nenembe and Sibeko and together they traveled to Swanepoel and Jayde’s houses on a number of occasions in order to track Jayde’s movements and to plot the kidnapping.
Stoger told State Prosecutor Marius Stander how the vehicle would travel around 20km/h when in Deacon Street near the Stellen Glen Complex on April 15.
He said that April 21, at 6:29am, was the last day the vehicle was tracked outside Jayde’s home. Stoger said that the Toyota Etios was later traced to a location “out of townâ€.
It is alleged that Christopher Panayiotou paid Luthando Siyoni, a bouncer from his Infinity nightclub, to hire alleged triggerman, Vumazonke, to kidnap and kill Jayde. The State alleges that Nenembe assisted Vumazonke to kidnap and murder Jayde at the behest of her husband. Siyoni has since turned State witness.
The State alleges after being driven to a remote area in Kwanobuhle, Jayde was shot twice through the back and once through the head.
– African News Agency (ANA)
