Port Elizabeth – Christopher Panayiotou and the two men accused with him of the murder of his teacher wife Jayde will appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The Dawn network will once again picket outside the PE Magistrates’ Courts calling for “Justice for Jayde”
Thando Siyoli, 31, and Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, stand accused with the grocer and nightclub owner of the murder of Jayde, who disappeared while waiting for a lift to school on April 21.
Her body was found in an isolated area in KwaNobuhle, outside Uitenhage, and the three were arrested for her murder.
Panayiotou failed to get bail in a drawn out application in which Magistrate Abigail Beeton said the State’s case was “reasonably strong” and “decisive”.
She was concerned that he had not been open about his dual Cypriot citizenship, and did not agree that his business might be ruined unless he was released on bail.
In a sitting to explain her reasons for denying him bail, she said investigators were waiting for the outcome of forensic tests on money allegedly paid to Siyoli.
It has also emerged that Panayiotou had a girlfriend, Chanelle Coutts, who he worked with.
She reportedly had a nervous breakdown after Jayde’s death.
The charges the accused face include conspiracy to commit murder, murder‚ kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating the ends of justice.
Alan Straton
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