Jayde: phones wiped clean
State, defence counsel lock horns during Panayiotou’s bail hearing
AMID revelations that key cellphones had been “wiped clean”, heated and snide retorts were exchanged as state and defence went head to head during murder accused Christopher Panayiotou’s ongoing bail application yesterday.
On more than one occasion in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court, defence advocate Terry Price called evidence led by the state “blatant and transparent attempts to mislead the court”, while new evidence was presented that phones belonging to Panayiotou, 28, and his lover had had all their data erased.
Price later slated a statement by investigating officer Lieutenant Rhynhardt Swanepoel as “not worth the paper it is written on” and “flagrant and disgusting lies” designed to undermine his client’s bid for bail after being accused of orchestrating his 29-year-old wife Jayde’s abduction and murder last month.
He also said a co-accused looked as though he had “gone 15 rounds with Floyd Mayweather” after allegedly being assaulted by police.
In reply to Price’s passionate argument in support of his client’s application, state advocate Marius Stander stood up with a slight smirk on his face and replied: “Luckily I am not someone who is flustered easily.”
Panayiotou is suspected of having paid a bouncer at an Algoa Park club he owns, Luthando Siyoli, 31, a large sum of money to organise someone to murder his wife.
Siyoli, in turn, allegedly hired Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, to carry out the hit.
Part of the new evidence before court was that days after Jayde’s body was found, cellphones belonging to Panayiotou and his mistress Chanelle Coutts were wiped clean of all data and the police’s cyber crime unit failed to retrieve any useful information from them.
According to an affidavit by the investigating officer, police were looking for any evidence that showed Panayiotou might have had knowledge of the availability of a Cypriot passport he applied for in 2013. When no data could be retrieved, Coutts’s phone was also checked, and the police found both had been wiped in such a way that no data could be retrieved.
In reply, Price read out an affidavit by Panayiotou admitting the phones were wiped clean – not to destroy information about his passport, but in a bid to conceal his extramarital affair.
He said proof of his sexual relationship with Coutts was removed from both their phones as he did not want his or Jayde’s family to find out about it.
Panayiotou, sitting in the dock wearing the same black suit and shirt he has worn at every appearance, had a deep frown on his face as he followed the opposing arguments.
For the first time however, his family seemed less tense. During adjournments his father, Constiantinos, was seen laughing while talking to other family members.
The state placed much emphasis on Panayiotou’s alleged efforts to hide his Cypriot citizenship and his application for a Cypriot passport, saying this made him a flight risk if
granted bail. Stander also read out a list of Panayiotou’s international travels since 2000, which included visits to Cyprus, New York, Dubai, Kenya and Mauritius. He said this showed Panayiotou was no stranger to international travel, making him a bigger potential flight risk.
“How many people appear in this court with a travel CV like that? Not many,” Stander said.
Price retorted that the state was contradicting itself. When Swanepoel had discussed a motive for the alleged murder, he said Panayiotou was unable to sustain two relationships financially and opted to have his wife killed.
Now the state made him out to be a wealthy man capable of regular international travel.
“The state paints my client to be a pauper that cannot sustain two women. Now they make him look like a globetrotter. So what is he then? A globetrotting pauper?”
In turn, Stander targeted the defence’s claims that Panayiotou’s custody would cause the Algoa Park OK Grocer, which he managed and owned shares in, to suffer financially, putting about 60 people’s jobs at risk. Stander said Panayiotou only had a 10% share in the business and it was unlikely the majority shareholders would allow a business interest, earning millions a year, to go under because of his absence.
Defence claims about poor conditions in prison were also attacked by Stander, who said Panayiotou had been moved out of a communal cell to a single cell at St Albans.
Price criticised the way in which the police arrested and detained Siyoli and Vumazonke, claiming both were abused into giving statements incriminating Panayiotou.
He said Siyoli was convinced “nicely” to give a statement against his co-accused, and mentioned Vumazonke’s previous court appearance when he “looked like he had gone 15 rounds with Floyd Mayweather”, referring to his bruised and swollen face.
In reply, Stander said Vumazonke never made any admissions and testimony against his co-accused, but confirmed that Siyoli was taken out of town to Fort Beaufort upon his arrest last month.
This was done with the knowledge of his attorney.
Stander said the chances were slim all three would stand trial together as there was currently an undertaking between Siyoli and the director of public prosecutions pertaining to a possible plea agreement.