Bail bid exposes double life

Jayde and Christopher Panayiotou

Jayde and Christopher Panayiotou

Published May 22, 2015

Share

Port Elizabeth - Murder accused Christopher Panayiotou hired a hitman to shoot his wife on whom he had cheated for years after his messy double life and rumoured debt finally caught up with him, according to the narrative the State presented this week in its bid to keep him in prison until his trial begins.

Prosecutor Marius Stander told the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s court there had been several failed attempts to kill Jayde Panayiotou, a popular teacher at Riebeek College, before the plot allegedly masterminded by her husband succeeded last month.

Panayiotou allegedly paid R70 000 for the hit that was made to look like a robbery and kidnapping - R40 000 going to the hitman and the rest to Luthando Siyoli, a bouncer at a night club he owns, who reportedly acted as the middleman.

Stander read the court transcripts of recorded conversations that had taken place between the burly husband and the bouncer and said he believed the State had a rock solid case. In one recording, made after the murder, Panayiotou wanted to know from Siyoli whether the police had enquired about him. The State also alleged that the 28-year-old Panayiotou paid Siyoli R5,000 to flee town and urged him to destroy cellphone Sim cards used in the conversations in which they allegedly conspired to kill the 29-year-old teacher.

The prosecutor is opposing bail because it contends that Panayiotou was a flight risk because he risked life in prison if convicted and held a Cyprian passport. His family also owned property on the Mediterannean island.

Details of the State’s case emerged as Stander read out the first affidavit of Kanna Swanepoel, the investigating officer in the kidnapping and murder case which has gripped the country and drawn comparisons to the sensational murder trial of British businessman Shrien Dewani who was charged with arranging a hit on his wife Anni during their honeymoon in Cape Town in late 2010. Dewani walked free in 2014.

In Swanepoel’s statement, he said that Panayiotou’s father, Costa, had loved Jayde very much and had treated her like his own daughter. The State believes that Costa confronted his son about an extramarital affair he was with a woman who was a manager of one of his businesses, an OK grocery store.

His father demanded that he end the affair, even threatening to disown him if he did not.

According to the State, Panayiotou was drowning in debt owed on his luxury car and properties. He owed R2.2 million for a Lovemore Heights property – reportedly bought for Jayde – and more than R500,000 on his Stellen Glen Home. Stander said he believed the accused’s debt piled up as he struggled to keep his wife and mistress happy, and that this was his main motive for having Jayde murdered.

Jayde was assaulted, thrown in the boot of a rental car and shot twice in the back and once in the head. Her body was found on the outskirts of KwaNobuhle township in Uitenhage a day after she disappeared.

Public sentiment towards her apparently grief-stricken husband turned after people realised he had copied parts of his moving eulogy from the internet. Rumours of his affair were initially denied but Chanelle Coutts - his 26-year-old mistress - soon broke down and apparently confessed to the relationship.

Panayiotou himself in his affidavit handed in during his bail hearing this week admitted to a three-year affair with Coutts, saying they were romantically involved and he had bought her dinners and gifts.

Panayiotou was arrested days after Siyoli. A third suspect, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, was arrested later. All three men have been charged with murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and conspiracy to commit murder.

The bail hearing has so far lasted three tumultuous days and is due to resume next week Tuesday.

On Thursday, senior advocate Terry Price asked that court proceedings not to be postponed again as his client — whose reasons for seeking bail include a detailed and lengthy complaint about prison food — had been in custody for three weeks already. This came after he was chastised by Magistrate Abigail Beaton for having been absent from court the day before. She had adjourned the hearing after being informed that attorney Theuns Roelofse would stand in for Price, who was out of town.

Beaton said she did not want a scenario where the accused could at a later stage complain that he had not had the right to a fair bail application or a fair trial.

On Thursday, the magistrate warned the media not to record and report on private conversations that took place between Price, his client and his family when court was not in session.

ANA

Related Topics: