Jayde’s sister lays into killer

Emotions ran high when the sister of murdered Port Elizabeth teacher Jayde Panayiotou read out a heart-wrenching letter in court, telling murderer Christopher Panayiotou that her family would never ever forgive him.

Panayiotou was convicted earlier this month of murdering his wife.

“I want you to know that my mom, dad and I will never forgive you,” an emotional Toni Inggs told the court yesterday. “The cowards sitting in this row here today will never be forgiven.”

Inggs was called as the state’s only witness in aggravation of sentence in the High Court in Port Elizabeth.

An emotionally charged Inggs said she had decided a year ago to address Panayiotou, Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko, all who were convicted earlier this month for her sister’s murder.

Jayde was kidnapped outside her home while waiting for a lift to work and murdered on the outskirts of Kwanobhule in April 2015. The contract killing was arranged at the behest of her husband.

“So I stand here today with a broken heart, a damaged life and immense anger, you have all won,” she said.

“In fact, you won this selfish game the day you all agreed to murder Jayde. As usual, Chrissy [Christopher Panayiotou] gets exactly what he wanted.”

Inggs demanded that Panayiotou look at her while she addressed him. He refused by keeping his head dropped, with his face flushed red.

“To stand here and say that I hate the three of you would truly be an understatement of how I feel about you and what you have done to my family.”

Inggs described how the loss of Jayde made her world spin out of control in that she no longer trusted anyone and was constantly on the lookout, wondering if someone was to kill her next.

She said she felt a whirlwind of emotions and felt betrayed.

She dug into Panayiotou’s character, saying that Jayde deserved much more than the material things he gave out. “She begged for your love and attention and this is how you repaid her.”

The case was postponed until next Thursday at the request of the defence, which was not ready to proceed. – ANA