PORT ELIZABETH, October 26 (ANA) – The State presented closing arguments in the trial of murder accused Christopher Panayiotou in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday, thus bringing to a conclusion evidence led over a period of 62 days, with a total of 58 witnesses being called.
The businessman is charged alongside Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko with conspiring to kidnap and murder Christopher’s schoolteacher wife Jayde Panayiotou on April 21, 2015.
State advocate Marius Stander set out to pin down the role of alleged hitman Sizwe Vumazonke who has since died. Stander submitted that there was overwhelming evidence against Vumazonke who played an “integral part” in the preparation, execution and cover-up of what he called a contract killing.
Stander went on to paint a picture that linked Vumazonke to self-confessed middleman Luthando Siyoni by way of content in SMS and Facebook communication where they seemingly discuss payment for the alleged hit. The wheeling and dealings of these two men played an integral part in fitting the pieces of the puzzle together which culminating in a contract killing, according to the State.
Stander said that Vumazonke and Siyoni were the only two who had contacted car rental companies, with Vumazonke eventually hiring and paying for the rented car used to allegedly kidnap Jayde.
Moving to circumstantial evidence, the vehicle tracker placed the Toyota Etios outside Jayde’s friend, Cherise Swanepoel’s house, the school where the friends taught in Uitenhage and Jayde’s Stellen Glen Complex – incidents the State calls “scouting”.
Stander said that without a doubt Vumazonke was one of the killers, adding that “he is dead in the water, there is no other finding that can be made”.
Stander then looked at the role Siyoni played in the schoolteacher’s murder. “The evidence against Siyoni is damning and I will ask that the court find that he was also involved in the killing,” he said.
According to Siyoni’s confession, it was agreed that Panayiotou would pay R80,000, of which Siyoni would get R30,000 and Vumazonke the rest. Siyoni has since recanted his confession and claims police beat him up and forced him to implicate his former boss Christopher Panayiotou.
Stander said that the content of the confession was not admissible as evidence against Panayiotou, Nenembe or Sibeko, but it most certainly indicated the involvement and role played by Siyoni in the killing of Jayde.
Stander said that there was an agreement between Panayiotou and Siyoni long before April 1, with Facebook messages showing how Jayde’s number plate registration was shared. The prosecution further outlined a sequence of events where on April 7 Panayiotou met Siyoni in a township and paid over the money for the rental of the Etios.
On April 8 2015, there were several communications between Vumazonke and Siyoni and the hitman eventually hired the car and started scouting for Jayde in the days before her murder. “From the cellular phone billing of Vumazonke and Siyoni it is abundantly clear that both of them were in the Etios from the time it left the residence of Siyoni.”
Stander said that just prior to arriving at Riebeeck College where Jayde worked, Siyoni made two phone calls to the phone off Mawongo Ndedwa. The State believes the two men got lost and called Panayiotou who was using Ndedwa’s phone.
The case was postponed until next week Tuesday for the defence to present its closing arguments.
– African News Agency (ANA)
(Edited by Lindiz van Zilla)
