Phone records ‘99.9% accurate’
PORT ELIZABETH: A forensic liaison manager at Vodacom testifying in the ongoing murder trial of Christopher Panayiotou, told the Port Elizabeth High Court that cellphone data billing captured by the service provider was 99.9% accurate.
It emerged in court that cellphone billing for various cellphone numbers was released to the State subsequent to a court order last year.
According to the State cellphone plotting shows co-accused Zolani Sibeko was with alleged shooter Sizwezakhe Vumazonke and Sinethemba Nenembe outside Jayde Panayiotou’s Stellen Glen complex in Kabega just five days before she was abducted.
She was forced into the boot of a vehicle and then taken to a remote area behind KwaNobuhle and killed.
Johanna Heyneke was tasked by the State with plotting cellphone towers in several areas as well as providing cellphone data to the State.
Heyneke said cellphone billing obtained showed the detailed history of a specific SIM card, which included incoming and outgoing calls, text messages as well as information on data activities such as Facebook and e-mail.
Heyneke said a SIM card could show the type of contract which was used and could even indicate the type of handset used at the time and whether handsets were interchanging with a specific SIM card.
She detailed a cellphone billing document – but it was unclear if the billing belonged to Panayiotou, Nenembe or Sibeko.
“The data is 99.9% accurate. The system can lose data if there is a lightning strike for example.
“We would face huge penalties so checks and balances are done, but at the end of the day the system can’t generate data that doesn’t exist.” said Heyneke. Vumazonke has since died. Jayde’s husband, Christopher, 29, the alleged mastermind behind the crime, was arrested shortly after her murder in April 2015.
The trial continues.