ATMs in focus at slain teacher’s trial

AFORMER police officer yesterday described to the high court in Port Elizabeth the fears of a father on the day Jayde Panayiotou disappeared during April last year.

Streicher Botha, an investigating officer at Protea Coin, testified on the sixth day of the trial of Jayde’s husband Christopher Panayiotou and his two co-accused, Sinethemba Nenembe and Zolani Sibeko.

Botha explained to the court how he was involved in the initial investigation upon receiving information that Jayde’s bank card had been used in KwaNobuhle after she had gone missing.

Botha was responsible for viewing video footage at ATMs, and often hands over footage to the police to assist them in their investigations.

He told the court how he arrived at an ATM in KwaNobuhle on April 21, 2015 and saw Jayde’s father Derrick Inggs, who was very anxious and wanted to view the video footage himself.

“Myself and the custodians of the ATM met up, the deceased’s father was very anxious, he also wanted to get into the ATM cubicle. We told him he was not allowed, and myself and the custodians went to view the footage,” said Botha.

Father was very anxious wanting to view footage

He told the court that at the first ATM, he did not observe any movement, but at the second, he noticed movement at 7.25am and distributed a photo to at least 10 police officers. It later emerged that that photo was not of the suspect and was incorrectly distributed to the media.

Botha said they visited a third ATM but he had observed no movement. “After he withdrew money, we checked his slip and saw there was a 20-minute difference between the receipt and the recording machine,” he said.

He went back to the first ATM in KwaNobuhle the next day. At 7.05am, Botha noticed movement, but the image was unclear. He said the photo would have been inadmissible in court and did not “preserve” it.

Botha conceded that the unclear photo was the image that supported the withdrawal from Jayde’s account.

The State alleges Panayiotou paid Luthando Siyoni, a bouncer from his Infinity nightclub, to hire hitman Sizwezakhe Vumazonke to kidnap and kill his wife. The State alleges Nenembe helped Vumazonke kidnap and murder Jayde at the behest of her husband. Siyoni has since turned States witness and Vumazonke died in custody.

After being driven to a remote area on the outskirts of KwaNobuhle, the State alleges Vumazonke fired two shots through Jayde’s back and a final shot through her head.

Sibeko was the last person arrested, 15 months after the murder. Cellphone mapping places him outside Jayde’s complex in the days before her murder. His alleged role in the events leading up to the murder, however, is unclear.