PORT ELIZABETH, January 20 (ANA) – The girlfriend of a man who allegedly hired hitmen to kidnap and kill Jayde Panayiotou appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of perjury and defeating the ends of justice.
Babalwa Breakfast was arrested during October last year shortly after she was declared a hostile witness and excused from the stand, where she was testifying in the murder trial involving Christopher Panayiotou and his two co-accused Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko.
Breakfast was previously seen crying hysterically at the time of her arrest.
Her boyfriend, Luthando Siyoni, was employed by Panayiotou as a bouncer at his Infinity nightclub. The State alleges Panayiotou paid Siyoni to hire hitman Sizwe Vumazonke to kidnap and murder Jayde.
Siyoni a section 204 witness, was also since declared hostile during his time in the dock.
During the Panayiotou murder trial, Breakfast told the court how she stashed money in her old school socks and counted the cash after being told to do so by her boyfriend. She said that Siyoni had informed her the money was for “renovating a gym” he ran in Zwide.
But her testimony 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.”
However, Breakfast later denied in court ever saying this to police. Her answers to the prosecution were: “I don’t know this”, “I don’t re-call” or “no, I never said this”.
The State believes that Breakfast was lying under oath.
Panayiotou, Nenembe and Sibeko are on trial on charges of conspiring, kidnapping, robbing, and killing Jayde. They pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. The alleged hitman, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, died in September.
Life orientation teacher Jayde, 29, was abducted outside her townhouse complex in Kabega Park, while waiting for her lift to Riebeeck High School. She was found shot dead in a veld outside KwaNobuhle township, Uitenhage, on April 22 2015.
The case against Breakfast was postponed until February 2 for a provisional trial date to be set.
– African News Agency (ANA)
