Suspects sought for Panayiotou’s murder, abducting woman

Police are investigating charges of murder, rape, hijacking and abduction, with the possibility of additional charges, after businessman Costa Panayiotou, 67, was gunned down and his female assistant was abducted on Monday outside his Uitenhage business.

The father of convicted murderer Christopher Panayiotou was shot dead outside Bambi Snack Bar in Uitenhage, while walking towards his vehicle with his assistant at about 1am on Monday.

Police spokesperson Capt Khaya Tonjeni said: “Panayiotou had just closed his shop in Market Street, Uitenhage, and was walking towards his vehicle with his assistant when unknown men accosted him near the Town Hall parking space and fatally shot him.”

Tonjeni said the suspects abducted Panayiotou’s assistant and stole his VW Polo, which was later recovered abandoned in front  of a house in Motherwell NU9.

The woman was later dropped in Kwazakhele and went to the nearest police station where she reported that she had been raped by two men.

Panayiotou sustained a gunshot wound in the upper body.

Panayiotou’s son, Christopher, was sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2017 after he was found guilty of orchestrating the murder of his wife, Jade, in 2015.

He had hired Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko to kill her.

Sibeko, who was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, was sentenced to 15 years in jail and Nenembe was sentenced to life for murder and an additional 15 years for robbery.