ALWYN GRIEBENOW

From prosecutor to magistrate to the Eastern Cape’s foremost defence attorney, at the age of 52 Alwyn Griebenow has worn many hats. After obtaining his law degree, Griebenow went on to work for the state as a prosecutor before becoming a magistrate. In 1994, he opened up his own practice and has built up an elite client list. He is charismatic, confident and incredibly smart, making him the obvious choice of counsel for Christopher Panayiotou. Having worked closely with Advocate Terry Price throughout the years, the two – although vastly different – have always made a formidable team. Together they have represented the likes of tennis ace Bob Hewitt, who this year started serving a prison sentence for rape, and Livingstone Makashola, who was acquitted on drug charges in 2014 following a mammoth trial. In 1997, Griebenow represented serial killer Stewart “Boetie Boer” Wilkens. He was convicted in 1998 on 10 counts of murder and seven more counts of sodomy. In 2005, Griebenow managed to prevent a group of suspected mercenaries being held in Zimbabwe from being extradited to Equatorial Guinea, where they would have faced the death sentence for an alleged planned coup. In addition to having the case transferred to South Africa, Griebenow saw to it that all the charges were later dropped.