Jayde Panayiotou’s family and friends broke down in tears on Thursday as a forensic pathologist described graphic details around the injuries she sustained on the day of her death.
On the third day of the trial against her husband Christopher Panayiotou and his two co-accused Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko, Doctor Kevin Fourie described to the Port Elizabeth High Court how Jayde was shot through the back, the bullet piercing her left lung, while the second shot severed her spinal cord, resulting in her being paralyzed.
“There would have been a lack of motor function and she would have fell down,†said Fourie.
Fourie said that in his opinion when the last shot went through the left side of Jayde’s head, the bullet perforating her brain and skull.
The three men are accused of murdering school teacher Jayde on April 21 last year.
At one point Jayde’s sister Toni Inggs and close friend Cherise Swanepoel smiled at each other when Fourie recalled Jayde’s tattoos and piercings.
But the fond memories of Jayde were short-lived when Fourie went into further detail about the way Jayde died.
Jayde’s mother Michelle and Toni both left court as graphic details emerged of how Jayde’s lungs, ribs, brain and skull had been perforated by bullet wounds. The State alleges the schoolteacher was shot three times.
Jayde’s husband Christopher and Panyiotou family members showed no emotion as the pathologist described how Jayde’s death was as a result of bullet wounds to both the head and chest.
It is alleged that Panayiotou paid Luthanodo Siyoni, a bouncer from his Infinity nightclub, to hire hitman Sizwe Vumazonke to kidnap and kill Jayde.
The State alleges that Nenembe assisted Vumazonke to kidnap and murder Jayde at the behest of her husband.
Siyoni has since turned States witness.
After being driven to a remote area on the outskirts of Kwanobhule where the killing took place, the State claims that Vumazaonke fired two shots through Jayde’s back.
The accused face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and unlawful possession of firearm and ammunition. The men have pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them.
Panayiotou, who was arrested shortly after his wife’s murder more than a year ago, faces an additional charge of defeating the ends of justice.
Sibeko was the last suspect to be arrested, 15 months after the murder, and has apparently been linked through cellphone mapping to being present outside Jayde’s complex in the days before her murder. However, his exact role in the events is still unclear.
– Raahil Sain, African News Agency (ANA)
