Port Elizabeth - Murder-accused Christopher Panayiotou's ex-employee's evidence took a u-turn in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday, when the defence raised several questions on the credibility of his testimony.
Mawonga Ndedwa was the 21st witness called by the State and testified in the ongoing trial against his ex-boss and his two co-accused Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko.
The men are accused of kidnapping and killing Panayiotou's wife Jayde in April 2015. Ndedwa alleged that Panayiotou used his personal cellphone to call Siyoni.
He claimed that at a later stage Panayiotou instructed him to “destroy” the device. Ndedwa's statement read: “Christopher broke the sim card in my presence, he then gave me R1000 and told me to get rid of my cell phone.
I took [the] R1000 but I did not get rid of the cellphone, I even showed the cell phone to the investigating officer.” Ndedwa said two weeks prior to Jayde's disappearance, Christopher started to ask him to borrow his phone to make calls. “Chris would come to me and borrow my phone, because he was my boss I would quickly give it to him.
He would send me airtime,” he recalled. He added he became aware that Panayiotou and Siyoni communicated via his cellphone. “I became aware of this because Siyoni called me looking for Chris,” said Ndedwa.
Ndedwa also told the court that he had stumbled across a bag of R30 000 in a storeroom at the OK Grocer. Panayiotou told him it was for bouncer Luthando Siyoni, who allegedly found the hitman who killed Jayde.
Siyoni has since turned State witness.
But, Defence Advocate Terry Price was having none of that and told Ndedwa that Panyiotou's cell phone records showed that he was not at the OK Grocer on April 22, on that day Ndedwa alleges his boss instructed him to destroy the phone.
Ndedwa said that he had informed Christopher's mother, Fanoula, as well as his mistress Chanelle Coutts that “Christopher was using the phone to organise Jayde's death”.
“If he [Christopher] broke that sim card then you would have not been able to use that card again, the sim card was used in [Ndedwa's] same phone the very next day,” Price said and displayed cell phone billing records. Price went on to ask Ndedwa if he had called Fanoula after being fired, at first the ex-employee said he could not re-call but later changed his tune and said he remembered calling her, this after Price indicated he had a recording of the conversation.
Price accused Ndedwa of attempting to extort the Panyiotou family for R150 000 in exchange for the cell phone. He said when the family did not budge Ndedwa went to the police. Price also argued that four people had access to the store room in which Ndedwa claimed to have discovered the money.
“I can assure you that anyone who walked into that storeroom would of seen that money but I was the only one that day,” Ndedwa told Price. Price said his answers were “absolutely puerile” and false. He questioned how was it possible he admitted to stealing whisky but let “R30 000 survive”.
Panayiotou, Nenembe, and Sibeko are on trial on charges of conspiring, kidnapping, robbing, and killing Jayde on April 21 last year. They pleaded not guilty. Panayiotou is also facing an additional charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues on Friday.
African News Agency