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Port Elizabeth – Prominent defence attorney Alwyn Griebenow has confirmed that he will be representing the second suspect accused of being involved in the murder of Jayde Panayiotou.
Earlier on Thursday, provincial police spokesperson Marinda Mills announced that two men had been arrested and that detectives had ruled out robbery as the motive.
Thando Siyoli, 31, appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court briefly on Thursday and has been remanded in custody till May 7.
The second man, aged 28, is a close family member whose name is known to News24. He cannot be named until he appears in court on Monday.
Griebenow, 51, is one of the Port Elizabeth’s foremost defence attorneys. He studied law at the then University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University).
Having finished his studies, Griebenow went on to work for the National Prosecuting Authority as a state prosecutor, before becoming a magistrate.
In 1994, he began his practice as a defence attorney, and over the years has handled a number of high profile cases.
One of his first major cases was that of defending serial killer Stewart “Boetie Boer” Wilkens. Wilkens was charged with 10 counts of murder and five counts of sodomy in 1997. He was convicted of seven counts of murder and two counts of sodomy the following year.
Griebenow has also represented Amore Swart, wife of popular rugby administrator, Merwe Swart, who was gunned down in his driveway in 1996.
Amore was never charged, but testified to her affair with Fanie de Lange, who had admitted he had hired three men to assault Swart, but did not mean to have him killed.
More recently, in 2005, Griebenow represented a group of alleged mercenaries who were held in Zimbabwe on suspicion of being involved in a planned coup in Equatorial Guinea.
He managed to prevent the men from being extradited to Equatorial Guinea, where they would have faced the death penalty and had the case transferred to South Africa, where all charges were later dropped.
Last year, Griebenow represented Livingstone Makasholo - accused of various crimes including dealing in drugs, corruption and money laundering. He was found not guilty on all charges.
Griebenow also represented former Grand Slam doubles champion and one-time Tennis Hall of Famer, Bob Hewitt, on charges of rape and sexual assault of minors.
Hewitt was found guilty in March this year and is strongly considering an appeal against the verdict.
