Jayde’s alleged killer’s cousin also up for murder

Crime scene investigators inspect the house in Lytham Street where Marlene Webber, 78, was murdered on 20 August 2015. A suspect in the murder case of Webber, is a relative of Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, insert, the alleged triggerman in the murder of Jayde Panayiotou. Pictures: Eugene Coetzee/The Herald.

A COUSIN of the alleged trigger-man in the Jayde Panayiotou killing has been arrested for the murder of an elderly grandmother.

Thandoxolo Vumazonke, 23, a cousin of Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, who is awaiting trial at St Albans Prison, appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of Denise Marlene Webber, 78, of Kunene Park.

Vumazonke, who was arrested in New Brighton on Sunday, allegedly broke into Webber’s home last month and, with two other men, smothered her with a towel.

Vumazonke’s co-accused, Fikile Mengo, 20, and Mkhuseli Ngqanda, 28, were arrested on Friday and Saturday respectively.

Yesterday, officials said Vumazonke had been out on bail for a burglary-related case dating back to last year at the time of the murder. They declined to elaborate. The three men are accused of killing Webber during a house robbery in the middle of last month.

Shortly after the robbery, the men allegedly tried to draw money from an ATM in Newton Park – a move eerily similar to the Panayiotou murder case.

The breakthrough in Webber’s murder came on Friday evening when Mengo, who had worked as a casual labourer at Webber’s house, handed himself over to Kabega Park police.

On the arrest of all three of the accused, some of the items which had been stolen during the attack were found in their possession, the police said.

Police spokesman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said more arrests could not be ruled out.

“He [Vumazonke] was [on Sunday] caught after being spotted walking in a street in the New Brighton area.

“He was taken back to his home and during a search, some of the stolen items from the incident were recovered,” she said. The three suspects appeared in court yesterday and were remanded until Tuesday.

Vumazonke appeared alone in court 27.

He scratched his short beard and looked over his shoulder at family members who were sitting in the dock.

After trying to strike up a conversation with them, he was warned by the court orderly to be quiet.

He was then transferred to the bail court next door, where he appeared alongside Ngqanda and Mengo. Ngqanda, sporting thick black dreadlocks, said it was his first arrest.

Vumazonke and Ngqanda are represented by lawyer John Coetzee, while Mengo has Legal Aid representation.

The state is opposing bail because of the seriousness of the offence.

The men face charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Prosecutor Alta Meiring said the minimum sentence of life imprisonment applied in the case and that the matter had already been earmarked for the high court.

She said there was a prima facie case against all three accused.

Vumazonke’s cousin, Sizwezakhe, made headlines earlier this year after being arrested for the murder of Panayiotou, a Uitenhage schoolteacher.

At the time of Panayiotou’s murder, Sizwezakhe – who had previously been convicted for the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition – was out on parole.

- Gareth Wilson and Kathryn Kimberley