ALONE IN COURT
Family absent as Jayde’s husband appears for her murder
SLAIN teacher Jayde Panayiotou’s husband cut a lonely figure when he appeared in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and robbery with aggravated circumstances.
Entering the packed courtroom from the cells next door, Christopher Panayiotou looked straight ahead, ignoring curious onlookers and the media, and seemingly unfazed by the cameras pointed at him.
His face betrayed no emotion as he sat down. There were no family members present in court, either from Jayde’s family or his own.
Outside, protesters carried placards demanding that he be denied bail.
One angry proponent of the death penalty entered the courtroom with a noose, but was quickly ushered out by an orderly before proceedings began.
As Panayiotou, 28, who owns the Infiniti Cocktail Bar and Eatery in Algoa Park, made his brief appearance in court, it also emerged that the man allegedly hired to find a hitman to kill Jayde, 29, was paid R30 000.
Police insiders said R30 000 was paid to alleged middleman and Infiniti bouncer Luthando Siyoli, 31.
The money was seized when police raided his Kwazakhele home and arrested him.
Police also revealed that a third suspect, aged 30, had been arrested in New Brighton on Sunday and would appear in court tomorrow.
However, they would not say who the man was or divulge details of the investigation into Jayde’s murder.
Jayde, a teacher at Riebeek College in Uitenhage, was abducted outside her Kabega Park townhouse complex at about 6.30am on April 27 while waiting for a friend to pick her up for work.
Her body was found on a farm in Rocklands near Uitenhage the next day.
She had been shot once in the head and twice in the upper body.
After the photographers and television crews were ushered out of the courtroom yesterday, magistrate Jan van der Westhuizen entered and the brief proceedings began.
State advocate Marius Stander read out the charges Panayiotou will face and defence attorney Alwyn Griebenow confirmed the charges.
No formal bail application was brought and Panayiotou was not asked to plead. The case was postponed to June 19 for further investigation and Panayiotou was led back to the cells, from where he was to be transferred to St Albans Prison.
“We will take steps towards a formal bail application at a later stage,” Griebenow said.
“Now that we know what the charges are against my client, we can start work- ing on how we will approach the case.” Stander declined to comment. Outside court, noose-carrying Nelson Mandela Bay Ratepayers’ Association and Bay Afriforum leader Kobus Gerber said: “We would support the death penalty if it was an option. So now we support the denial of bail.
“Too many people who commit serious offences are released on bail, only to break the law again.
“We need to prevent that, and denying bail is the only way.”
Alternatively, he said, “the court could always release him on bail and give him to the community”.
“I am sure many people would like to get their hands on him for what he has [allegedly] done.”
DA Women’s Network (Dawn) members also carried posters calling for bail to be denied.
“We are here in support of the Justice for Jayde campaign, hoping that whoever is responsible for her death is brought to justice,” Dawn’s Celeste Barker said.
“Our presence here is symbolic of our fight for women’s rights which is part of the ideals of our country’s constitution.
“Nelson Mandela Bay is becoming an unsafe place to live because of incidents like this one.
“We need to stand together as the community of the Bay and fight for justice,” Barker said.
The Commission for Gender Equality’s Dr Nondumiso Maphazi said the group was concerned about the increase in violence between spouses and partners across South Africa.
“If the allegations are true, this is a very alarming case,” she said.
“This was not a crime of passion, but was planned well in advance.
“Irrespective of who is found guilty for Jayde’s death, we will be following the case,” Maphazi said.
Provincial police spokeswoman Brigadier Marinda Mills said the latest arrest brought the number of people held in the case to three so far.
However, she declined to say if the man arrested in New Brighton was the suspected triggerman who had been on the run since Jayde’s murder. Mills said more arrests were possible. “The investigation team is working around the clock and more arrests are not excluded,” she said.
Siyoli, the first suspect arrested, is believed to have turned state witness, and will appear in court again on Thursday.
Police insiders said Siyoli had given a confession and a first-hand account of how the hit had played out.
Panayiotou was arrested after Siyoli contacted him on Wednesday last week while in police custody, demanding more money due to the media “hype” around the murder.
The trap was set and undercover police watched the transaction.
Panayiotou was arrested at about 11pm on the same day at his father’s house in Uitenhage.