Siyoni complained about prison food - witness

[caption id="attachment_182289" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Luthando Siyoni
Picture: Eugene Coetzee[/caption]

A member of the Organised Crime Unit said investigating officer Captain Kanna Swanepoel had asked him on numerous occasions to fetch Luthando Siyoni’s family from their home so they could visit the self-confessed middleman at the Humewood police station where he was held in protective custody.

Warrant Officer Zolikaya Lusiti was testifying in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Friday, a day which marks exactly two years since the pretty Uitenhage schoolteacher’s death.

Lusiphi said not once did Siyoni, 37, who has since recanted on his confession, complain that he was assaulted by the police.

His gripes centred mainly around the distasteful prison food, the fact that he didn’t have a radio and that he wasn’t allowed to go the gym.

It is alleged that Siyoni helped Christopher Panayiotou, 30, to find hitmen to kidnap and kill his wife, Jayde, 29, on April 21 2015.

They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Also on Friday, Warrant Officer Shane Bosch said after noting Siyoni’s swollen eye, he asked him to take his top off so he could check for any further injuries.

While Siyoni has since claimed that he was kicked in the stomach and subjected to “tubing” – a torture technique – Bosch said no further injuries were visible on his body.

The trial continues on Monday.