Port Elizabeth - Christopher Panayiotou was not a flight risk and should be granted bail. That was the argument made by his defence attorney Terry Price in the Port Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Price went as far as publicly handing over Panayiotou's South African Identity document and drivers license and Cypriot Identity card to Investigating officer Kanna Swanepoel in court.
The matter of Panayiotou's dual citizenship has become a key bone of contention in his application as it will ascertain if he is a flight risk - a key consideration in granting bail.
The state led by Prosecutor Marius Stander argued that even if Panayiotou's Cypriot passport was with the Cyprus consulate in Pretoria, it was still available to him and he did not inform the state of it. Stander further stated that the court had no jurisdiction to compel the Cypriot government into handing over the passport.
Panayiotou claims that he was advised by his legal team that the matter was not relavent.
Magistrate Abigail Beaton chastised Price saying it was inconceivable that the legal team would make a call that it was irrelavent when she believed it was.
Price denied that Panayiotou was a flight risk saying that the state had misled the court by saying that Panayiotou was in possession of the Cypriot passport when Infact he was not.
“ The application for the passport was made in 2013 and not a few weeks before Jayde's murder as indicated by the state. Furthermore, the passport is with the Cyprus consulate in Pretoria and not in the possession of Mr Panayiotou therefore you have been misled,” said Price.
Later in proceedings he said that Panayiotou had 8 days from the time of Jayde's murder to his arrest but didn't flee.
“Why didn't he flee? “ asked Price.
Magistrate Beaton also asked the state to outline how they intended to prove their case against Panayiotou, another aspect she had to take into consideration in making her judgement.
The state said that they would show the link between Panayiotou, the middleman Thando Siyoli and the Hitman Sizwezakhe Vumazonke and the communication chain between them at key moments.
“We also have a witness that saw Panayiotou hand over the money for the hit to Siyoli. The money was recovered from Siyoli and Vumazonke and are now undergoing DNA touch analysis,” said Stander.
Price in his response said that because the state thought it has a strong case did not mean that they actually did.
“Mr Stander has looked at the docket from a prosecutors perspective. A lot of what he is alleging will be challenged. The state does not have a habit of saying they have a weak case in any event. Furthermore, the state's case is not the be all and end all of this matter ,”said Price.
Price said that he was convinced that there was as much of a chance of an acquittal as there was chance of a conviction.
He then began rejecting several aspects of case law put forward by the state before ending the defenses case.
Beaton will now have to sift through the arguments put before her before making her judgement on whether or not to grant Panayiotou bail.
The murder trial is only expected to take place towards mid-2016.
IOL Mojo