Tag: abduction

Body of white teacher found

The Herald can confirm that what is believed to be the body of a white teacher, Jayde Panayiotou was found on Wednesday morning.

Panayiotou disappeared without a trace from outside her Port Elizabeth home just minutes after talking to a close friend at about 6.30am on Tuesday.

A massive search for her continued throughout the night and on Wednesday morning.

Panayiotou‚ a Grade 7 teacher at Riebeek College Girls’ High School in Uitenhage‚ was last seen at the gates to her residential complex‚ Stellen Glen‚ in Deacon Road by one of the residents.

She was just minutes away from being picked up by her close friend and colleague at Riebeek‚ Cherise Swanepoel‚ with whom she carpooled.

Police called in additional manpower on Tuesday night‚ including members of the dog unit‚ to help with the search‚ which was concentrated on bushy areas between Port Elizabeth and the black area of KwaNnobuhle.

A police helicopter was also dispatched to help the search as new leads came in.

Money was withdrawn from her bank account about one and a half hours after she went missing.

Kuwait hangs ‘monster’ child rapist

Hajjaj Saadi (in green shirt)
Hajjaj Saadi (in green shirt)

Authorities in Kuwait on Tuesday hanged a 33-year-old Egyptian man dubbed a “monster” for the abduction and rape of 17 children under the age of 10, the public prosecution said.

Hajjaj Saadi, who was handed five death sentences, complained shortly before his execution that had not been given any assistance from the Egyptian government, a witness said.

Saadi strongly denied in court that he had committed any of the crimes, which shocked the Kuwaiti public, and insisted his confessions were extracted under duress.

Arrested in July 2007 as he prepared to board a flight to Luxor in Egypt, he became known as “the Hawalli monster” for the district near Kuwait City where the crimes took place.

The authorities said Saadi had confessed to raping 17 boys and girls after luring them onto rooftops in Hawalli, an area mainly inhabited by foreigners 12 kilometres (seven miles) south of the capital.

Another Egyptian man was executed at the same time after he was found guilty of killing an Asian couple by setting their home ablaze and attempting to murder another couple from Egypt the same way, said the prosecution.

Ahmad Abdulsalam al-Baili poured an inflammable material in the apartment of the Asian pair and set it on fire in April 2008, causing their deaths, it said in a statement.

Later he tried to kill an Egyptian couple the same way. They survived despite suffering injuries.

The hangings were the second set of executions in Kuwait since it reintroduced the death penalty following a six-year moratorium.

In April, the authorities in the oil-rich Gulf state executed a Saudi, a Pakistani and a stateless Arab who were convicted of murder. – AFP