Panayiotou family shows no mercy to Jayde’s

Michelle Inggs, the mother of slain school teacher Jayde Panayiotou has told Carte Blanche in an exclusive interview that her daughter’s in-laws have not showed her family “mercy” following the murder.

“It still comes down to the point that my daughter has been murdered. [There is my daughter] which… they [the Panayiotou family] loved apparently, but have shown no mercy towards us,” she says in the interview that will air on Sunday night.

When asked by Carte Blanche’s John Webb asked if there was something the Panayiotou family could have done differently to change the relationship, she replies: “Just a WhatsApp message – ‘How are you doing? How are you coping?’.”

Jayde’s husband Christopher Panayiotou and two others have been accused of her murder.

Christopher Panayiotou allegedly hired Luthando Siyoli, 31, a bouncer in his employ at the Infinity club in Algoa Park, Port Elizabeth, to find a hitman, Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, to kidnap and murder his wife.

During his bail application it emerged that the financial strain of having to support a mistress, Chanelle Coutts, in addition to a wife, may have led to the murder.

Jayde was kidnapped on Tuesday, April 21, while waiting outside her complex in Kabega Park for her lift to Riebeek College Girls’ High School in Uitenhage, where she taught. Her body was found near KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage, the next day.

Webb said that interviewing Michelle and Jayde’s sister Toni Inggs was both easy and extremely difficult.

“Easy because both were honest and engaging, difficult because their pain is still so obvious,” he said.

“I hoped our conversation would do justice to their decision to open up to us, and I was assured when, after the recording, both said they’d found the experience cathartic.

“The debate around which of the 47 daily murders in South Africa the media chooses to cover will continue. What’s important is, when that decision is made, we do so with integrity. And, perhaps, in a way that honours rather than degrades the victim.”

On Monday the Grahamstown High Court heard Christopher Panayiotou’s application to appeal the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court ruling denying him bail.

Judgment on the appeal was expected to be handed down on July 28.

After proceedings, Jayde’s father Derick Inggs and Christopher Panayiotou’s advocate Terry Price lashed out at each other, after both claimed the other had been pushed.

* WatchCarte Blanche’s exclusive interview with Michelle and Toni Inggs at 19:00 on Sunday on M-Net.

Ahmed Areff, News24