When Christopher Panayiotou returns to the dock on Wednesday for the continuation of his bail hearing, he would have been behind bars for nearly a month.
He’s accused of orchestrating the abduction and murder of his 28-year-old wife Jayde.
His co-accused are Thando Siyoni, a bouncer at the Infinity club in Algoa Park, Port Elizabeth and alleged shooter, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke.
The hearing on Tuesday was delayed several times in the morning when the state announced that it wanted to submit a further affidavit by investigating officer, Lieutenant Rhynhardt Swanepoel.
This dealt with additional information relating to the Cypriot passport , which Panayiotou admitted applying for in 2013.
The state alleges that he is a flight risk because he has Cypriot citizenship, which includes an identity document and passport.
The state says his father, Costa, also owns property in Cyprus and he has family there.
Panayiotou, through his counsel Terry Price said he did not have the passport in his possession and that the document was still with the Cypriot consulate in Pretoria. He admitted applying for one in February 2013
The other aspect of Swanepoel’s affidavit dealt with attempts to retrieve data from Panayiotou’s cellphone which the state said was deleted several days after Jayde’s murder in April.
State advocate Marius Stander said they wanted to check whether Panayiotou had received a text notification of the availability of his passport at the consulate as is standard practice at the Department of Home Affairs.
Responding to this Price said his client had deleted information about his affair with an employee, Channelle Coutts, from his phone because he wanted to spare his parents the embarrassment.
He denied that details about the Cypriot passport had been deleted from Panayiotou’s cellphone.
In presenting heads of argument before magistrate Abigail Beeton, Price accused the state of pedalling lies before the court about Panayiotou being in possession of the Cypriot passport.
He said there was no evidence to suggest that the passport had made its way to his client and that Panayiotou had neither received nor signed for the document.
Price also state also presented “unadulterated speculation” in the “desperation” to present the court with a motive. He said the state had turned a sexual affair into a motive for murder.
He called on magistrate Beeton to find that the state’s “flagrant” attempt to “mislead” the court as an “exceptional circumstance” to consider as a reason to grant his client bail.
In responding to the defence’s submissions, state advocate Marius Stander, said that all Christopher Panayiotou had to do was to inform “us” that he had applied for the Cypriot passport.
He said Panayiotou had not taken the court into his confidence by revealing upfront that he had dual citizenship, a Cypriot identity document and that he had applied for the passport.
Stander also spoke of the protocol that had to be followed when trying to obtain information expeditiously from an embassy of a foreign government.
He says the state believes that Panayiotou will evade trial and that he will attempt to influence or intimidate witnesses or conceal evidence, assertions denied by the defence.
Stander also told the court that the three accused will not be tried together. He said there is “process” in place between the National Director of Public Prosecutions and accused No1, Siyoni, who will testify for the state.
He said the arrangements have not been finalised.
Stander will conclude his closing arguments on Wednesday.
