Panayiotou defence wants video thrown out

A POLICE officer and former family friend of the Panayiotous testified how murder accused Christopher Panayiotou had grown up in front of him and how he had attended his wedding to Jayde Panayiotou.

Detective Warrant Officer Leon Eksteen, from the police’s Organised Crime Unit, who had been friends with the Panayiotous for 16 years prior to Jayde’s murder last year, testified in the ongoing murder trial of Christopher Panayiotou and two co-accused who face charges relating to Jayde’s murder.

A trial-within-a-trial is currently under way which aims to deal with admissibility of a video recording between alleged middleman Luthando Siyoni and Panayiotou during an undercover police sting operation on April 29 last year.

Eksteen later became directly involved in the investigation after the investigating officer Kanna Swanepoel requested his help.

“Kanna asked if I could be of assistance because I knew accused number 1 (Christopher) and that accused number 1 was implicated by Luthando Siyoni.”

Police then put a plan in place where Siyoni would call Panayiotou. Eksteen then decided what the bouncer would say to the businessman in several calls recorded between the two men.

A few calls were played out in court.

“Boss, I’m in deep trouble, I need to call you,” Siyoni is heard telling Panayiotou, who then tells the bouncer to call him back in 15 minutes.

Siyoni previously testified police “forced” and “threatened” him to call his boss as part of the sting operation – it was either co-operate or face jail time, this according to the bouncer.

“They said I must make Chris confess (to his wife’s murder).”

The State alleges Panayiotou hired the bouncer from his Infinity nightclub to recruit hitmen to kidnap and kill Jayde because she was a “financial burden”.

The trial continues. – ANA