One of the men convicted of the April 2015 murder of Uitenhage school teacher Jayde Panayiotou appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth High Court yesterday, along with three other suspects, on another charge of murder.
Sinethemba Nemembe, 28, with Fikile Mengo, 20, Mkhuseli Ngqanda, 29, and Thanduxolo Vumazonke, 23, are charged with the 2015 murder of Denise Webber as well as robbery with aggravating circumstances.
It is alleged all of the accused robbed and murdered Webber, 78, at her Kabega Park home in August 2015 after they gained entry to the property with the help of Webber’s casual labourer, Mengo.
In the indictment before court, the state alleges that Nemembe, Ngqanda and Vumazonke arrived at Webber’s Needham Street home, where they met Mengo before tying up Webber and her domestic worker, Nolukhanyo Mafuduka, with cables.
Webber was strangled to death while tied up. It is alleged that after they had ransacked the house, the accused loaded the stolen items into the vehicle they had arrived in and fled the scene.
Webber’s bank card was then used to withdraw money from an ATM in Newton Park.
Vumazonke is the cousin of the alleged hitman in the Panayiotou case, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, who died in prison while awaiting trial.
Panayioutou’s husband, Christopher, and Nemembe are serving life sentences for her murder.
The trial for the Webber matter is set to start on August 20.
