The Panayiotou murder trial will resume in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday morning with the state expected to call its first witness.
The trial was postponed at around lunchtime on Tuesday after state advocate Marius Stander called for an adjournment.
The court heard on Tuesday how gun residue on her hand indicated that Jayde Panayiotou‚ 29‚ had tried to defend herself from her killers – shielding her face from a fatal shot to the head after she had already been shot twice in the back.
Jayde’s husband‚ Christopher Panayiotou‚ 30‚ is accused of hiring alleged hitmen Sinethemba Nemembe‚ 28‚ and Zolani Sibeko‚ 35‚ to murder her.
The three have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping‚ robbery and murder.
The alleged triggerman‚ Sizwesakhe Vumazonke‚ 36‚ died last month after slipping into a coma. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
The court heard how Vumazonke‚ immediately after the murder‚ was allegedly still holding on to Jayde’s book bag and laptop when he visited a sangoma for a “cleansing”. It was this visit that set police on his trail.
Meanwhile‚ in a lengthy plea explanation read out by defence advocate Terry Price SC‚ Panayiotou said he planned to show how police had unlawful and unconstitutional tactics to try to build a case against him.
The state claims Panayiotou paid Luthando Siyoni‚ 31‚ an employee at his Infinity Cocktail Bar in Algoa Park‚ to recruit hitmen to kidnap and kill Jayde on April 21 last year.
Siyoni has admitted his involvement and implicated Panayiotou.
“I will request the court to order a trial-within-a-trial on the basis that the evidence obtained following the removal of Siyoni from Infinity at approximately 8.15pm on April 27 2015 is inadmissible‚” Price read.
“All the evidence thereafter is tainted as a result of the police assaulting‚ intimidating and unlawfully pressuring Siyoni to implicate me.”
State calls friend who was to pick up Jayde on that fateful as first witness
Jayde Panayiotou’s close friend and colleague at Riebeek College Girls’ High School in Uitenhage‚ Cherise Swanepoel‚ is the first witness to be called by the prosecution in the mammoth murder trial.
Swanepoel‚ who shared a lift club with Jayde‚ was the last person to communicate with her before she was kidnapped and killed on April 21 last year.
The two communicated via WhatsApp at 6.27am‚ while Jayde waited for Swanepoel to pick her up outside her Stellen Glenn complex in Kabega Park.
A follow-up message sent to Jayde’s phone was never delivered.
The state claims Jayde’s husband‚ Christopher Panayiotou‚ supplied the suspected hitmen with details of Swanepoel’s car and her residential address so that they could follow her and Jayde to work.
The plan was later changed and Jayde was kidnapped from outside the home she shared with Panayiotou.
The trial continues. – TMG Digital/The Herald
Jayde tried to shield herself from gunman‚ court hears
The Panayiotou murder trial will resume in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday morning with the state expected to call its first witness.
The trial was postponed at around lunchtime on Tuesday after state advocate Marius Stander called for an adjournment.
The court heard on Tuesday how gun residue on her hand indicated that Jayde Panayiotou‚ 29‚ had tried to defend herself from her killers – shielding her face from a fatal shot to the head after she had already been shot twice in the back.
Jayde’s husband‚ Christopher Panayiotou‚ 30‚ is accused of hiring alleged hitmen Sinethemba Nemembe‚ 28‚ and Zolani Sibeko‚ 35‚ to murder her.
The three have pleaded not guilty to kidnapping‚ robbery and murder.
The alleged triggerman‚ Sizwesakhe Vumazonke‚ 36‚ died last month after slipping into a coma. The cause of death has not yet been determined.
The court heard how Vumazonke‚ immediately after the murder‚ was allegedly still holding on to Jayde’s book bag and laptop when he visited a sangoma for a “cleansing”. It was this visit that set police on his trail.
Meanwhile‚ in a lengthy plea explanation read out by defence advocate Terry Price SC‚ Panayiotou said he planned to show how police had unlawful and unconstitutional tactics to try to build a case against him.
The state claims Panayiotou paid Luthando Siyoni‚ 31‚ an employee at his Infinity Cocktail Bar in Algoa Park‚ to recruit hitmen to kidnap and kill Jayde on April 21 last year.
Siyoni has admitted his involvement and implicated Panayiotou.
“I will request the court to order a trial-within-a-trial on the basis that the evidence obtained following the removal of Siyoni from Infinity at approximately 8.15pm on April 27 2015 is inadmissible‚” Price read.
“All the evidence thereafter is tainted as a result of the police assaulting‚ intimidating and unlawfully pressuring Siyoni to implicate me.”
State calls friend who was to pick up Jayde on that fateful as first witness
Jayde Panayiotou’s close friend and colleague at Riebeek College Girls’ High School in Uitenhage‚ Cherise Swanepoel‚ is the first witness to be called by the prosecution in the mammoth murder trial.
Swanepoel‚ who shared a lift club with Jayde‚ was the last person to communicate with her before she was kidnapped and killed on April 21 last year.
The two communicated via WhatsApp at 6.27am‚ while Jayde waited for Swanepoel to pick her up outside her Stellen Glenn complex in Kabega Park.
A follow-up message sent to Jayde’s phone was never delivered.
The state claims Jayde’s husband‚ Christopher Panayiotou‚ supplied the suspected hitmen with details of Swanepoel’s car and her residential address so that they could follow her and Jayde to work.
The plan was later changed and Jayde was kidnapped from outside the home she shared with Panayiotou.
The trial continues. – TMG Digital/The Herald
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