PORT ELIZABETH, October 31 – The Port Elizabeth High Court heard that the only evidence against murder accused, Christoper Panayiotou, was an audio recording made in a car.
That is according to his defence counsel, Advocate Terry Price, who told Judge Dylan Chetty in closing arguments on Tuesday, that the state did not present any direct evidence against the businessman,
Panayiotou is charged alongside Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko for the murder of his school teacher wife Jayde in April 2015.
Price also slammed the police and prosecution for the way in which the case was handled from the start, saying that the rights of alleged middleman, Luthando Siyoni, were “trashed”” by police.
Price said that Siyoni was subjected to “ill-treatment and improper pressure” to implicate his boss.
“When evidence is obtained unconstitutionally it must be excluded and evidence was obtained unlawfully from Siyoni,” Price charged.
He said the “trickery and deceit” was exposed when Siyoni was arrested, as the time of his arrest had been forged in the log book at the Kabega Park police station.
Price said that at the time that an undercover operation took place, in which a seemingly damning recording was made of a conversation between Panayiotou and Siyoni discussing his wife’s disappearance, Siyoni was not a Section 204 state witness.
“No one testified that Siyoni was warned in terms of a Section 204,” he said.
“At that point in time, Siyoni had not yet made a 204 statement and had not agreed to testify for the State so he entered that car in his capacity as a co-accused or a suspect.”
“He was not an agent, he was an accused. Get in the car, implicate Christopher, implicate himself. Siyoni was shoved into this like a sardine, you implicate him or you dead.”
The secret recording in a car was ruled admissible as evidence following a trial-within-a-trial..
During the sting operation, Panayiotou allegedly paid Siyoni R4,550 and seemingly implicates himself in his wife’s murder.
Price said that in all his years as a lawyer this was the “dirtiest case before a court of law”, saying that the “states hands were muddy from the start”.
Panayiotou is alleged to have paid Siyoni, a bouncer at his Infinity nightclub, to hire a hitman to kidnap and kill Jayde.
The State alleges that Siyoni procured the services of Sizwezakhe Vumazoke and Sinethemba Nenembe. Vumazonke died in hospital during the trial.
Zolani Sibeko has been named as the person who was allegedly asked to source a firearm.
The charges against the three accused include conspiracy to commit murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, kidnapping, murder and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Panayiotou faces an additional charge of obstructing the course of justice.
– African News Agency (ANA)
