Athens banker accused of estranged wife’s murder loses his court bid to delay trial
VINCENZO Pietropaolo, the former treasurer of the Bank of Athens accused of his wife’s murder, has failed in his bid to postpone his case to next year.
Pietropaolo has been in police custody since November last year for allegedly shooting his estranged wife, Manuela, nine times at their Brackenhurst home. He is also facing a charge of murder for killing his father, Pasqualino, after ballistics reports showed that the firearm used to kill Manuela had been stolen from Pasqualino’s home.
In June, the Saturday Star reported that Pietropaolo had reportedly tried to commit suicide after a foiled prison escape attempt.
It’s understood the suicide attempt by drug overdose had taken place soon after the police’s crime intelligence unit discovered the banker had allegedly paid a contact R100 000 to secure a fake passport and plane tickets out of the country.
Pietropaolo has seemingly made a full recovery, appearing yesterday at the High Court in Joburg for a pre-trial conference between State prosecutor Lwazi Ngodwana and defence lawyer Sandile Buthelezi.
While a trial date had been set down for October,
Buthelezi claimed he would not be ready by that time and asked the court to postpone the matter until 2019. He was unable to explain why he would need such time and the court rejected his application.
Buthelezi’s court behaviour was erratic during the unsuccessful bail application, where he shouted and gesticulated wildly at the presiding magistrate, asked the same questions repeatedly and was eventually asked by the court to prove he was a registered advocate.
The lawyer clearly has a difficult case ahead of him, as during the bail application the court heard that Pietropaolo had all but confessed to Manuela’s killing on two occasions.
However, Buthelezi has said his client will plead not guilty to the charges against him.