PORT ELIZABETH - PANAYIOTOU MURDER CO-ACCUSED FALLS ILL AND NEEDS TO UNDERGO SURGERY

Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, the man accused of shooting and killing Eastern Cape schoolteacher Jayde Panayiotou has fallen ill and needs surgery.

This emerged in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday where a pre-trial conference was meant to get under way.

Vumazonke appeared alongside Jayde's husband and alleged mastermind behind the murder plot, Christopher Panayiotou, and co-accused Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko who are all implicated in the 2015 murder.

Vumazonke's lawyer Hannelie Bakker told Judge Glenn Goosen that she could not communicate with her client during an earlier consultation on Thursday morning.

“[Nenembe] and [Vumazonke] are incarcerated in the same cell, [Nenembe] has been assisting him for the past two weeks,” said Bakker.

Bakker added that while Vumazonke had received some medical treatment at St Albans Prison it was not helping his condition. She requested that Vumazonke receive immediate medical attention and its understood that he will be sent to a Provincial Hospital to undergo surgery. The case was postponed until September 5 for the pre-trial conference.

VIA - iol.co.za