Port Elizabeth - Port Elizabeth businessman Christopher Panayiotou, who stands accused of orchestrating the murder of his schoolteacher wife, will be back in the city’s magistrate’s court on Monday.
Panayiotou and his two co-accused, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke and Sinethemba Nenembe, appeared in court last month in connection with the murder of Jayde Panayiotou, formerly Inggs, who was killed in April last year.
The State alleges that Nenembe assisted alleged hitman Vumazonke to kidnap and kill Jayde at the behest of her husband, Christopher Panayiotou.
Alwyn Griebenow, Panayiotou’s lawyer, indicated in court last month that he was instructed to arrange for a bail application based on new facts and that he was looking at a date sometime in May to proceed.
State prosecutor Marius Stander said on April 11 both the defence and State would meet with a judge to arrange for a date in May for the bail application on new facts to proceed.
This will be Panayiotou’s third attempt in his bid for bail.
Stander said that the investigation was “99 percent complete” and that the State was now waiting for two aspects to be finalised.
“What is outstanding is the financial statements for accused number 2 [Sizwezakhe Vumazonke] and that will only be available at the end of April. We are also waiting for cellphone information from the United States,” said Stander.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had previously made an application to the Department of Homeland Security in the United States, to retrieve data from Christopher Panyiotou’s cellphone.
During Panayiotou’s previous bail application it emerged that the cellphone data would be almost impossible to retrieve.
Panayiotou had previously indicated in court documents that he had had the data wiped to remove traces of his extramarital affair with his supermarket employee, Chanelle Coutts.
It emerged that the State had sought legal assistance from the US Department of Homeland Security in order to retrieve Whatsapp messages and Facebook content.
“The warrant of execution has been issued by the United States, so we are just waiting for that information to come,” said Stander.
At this stage, only parts of the docket have been made available to to the defence.
In January, the court heard that Panayioutou was likely to stand trial in July.
Panayiotou was initially denied bail in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court and then again in the Grahamstown High Court when he appealed that decision.
The case made international headlines after the shock arrest of Jayde Panayiotou’s husband just days after her body was found dumped in Uitenhage.
The schoolteacher was allegedly abducted outside her home while waiting for an early morning lift to work. The State alleges her husband had her killed because she was a “financial burden”.
She was reportedly hit on the head and placed in the boot of her abductor’s car. She was then apparently shot at close range – twice in the back and once in the head.
African News Agency