Middleman Luthando Siyoni found guilty of Jayde Panayiotou’s murder

The self-confessed middleman in the 2015 murder of Gqeberha school teacher Jayde Panayiotou has finally been convicted.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said that Luthando Siyoni would be sentenced in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Friday.

Christopher Panayiotou is already serving a life sentence for orchestrating his wife’s murder.

Siyoni was initially the key witness in the trial against Christopher Panayiotou.

He was employed by the convicted wife killer as a bouncer at one of his businesses.

However, Panayiotou also approached him to arrange hitmen to kill his wife.

Jayde Panayiotou was kidnapped outside her Kabega Park home in 2015 and was later found dead on the outskirts of Kariega, formerly known as Uitenhage.

Detectives then approached Siyoni to set up an undercover sting operation.

Video footage was obtained in which Christopher Panayiotou implicated himself.

Siyoni’s deal with the State fell through when he refused to cooperate with the prosecution during the trial and he was declared a hostile witness while on the stand.

That led to a charge of murder, of which he’s now been convicted.

-EWN

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