A large media contingent is present at the Grahamstown High Court for the bail appeal hearing of Christopher Panayiotou who stands accused of masterminding the murder of his school teacher wife Jayde in April.
The 28-year-old Panayiotou is appealing the decision by a Port Elizabeth Magistrate to deny him bail.
Panayiotou’s defence team had applied for the matter to be heard in Grahamstown.
When the appeal proceedings started, senior State advocate Marius Stander told the court he was of the opinion that the court in Grahamstown did not have the jurisdiction to preside over the matter.
Stander said it was practice that any appeal against a magistrate must be dealt with by the local division, in this case the Port Elizabeth High Court.
However, the matter went ahead when Judge Glen Goosen decided that the Grahamstown High Court did in fact have the jurisdiction to preside over the matter.
Upon lodging his appeal late last month, Panayiotou’s legal team launched a scathing attack on PE magistrate Abigail Beeton, saying she had erred on a number of fronts when she made the decision to deny their client bail.
He has been languishing in St Albans Prison for the past 82 days.
