Panayiotou seeking bail today

Port Elizabeth – The lawyers of Christopher Panayiotou, accused of orchestrating his wife, Jayde Panayiotou’s murder, head back to the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court today to pursue a fresh bail bid for their client.

His lawyers want the State to hand over the case docket in preparation for the proceedings.

Panayiotou’s first bail application was denied in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on June 5. A subsequent appeal to Eastern Cape High Court in Grahamstown was also turned down in July.

During a brief appearance last week, Advocate Marius Stander requested that the matter be postponed as Panayiotou’s legal team, consisting of Alwyn Griebenow and Advocate Terry Price SC, had experienced logistical issues in meeting with their client after the State had filed its opposing papers to their application.

Stander also pointed out that there was an additional application that would need to be heard, namely whether the application to have the case docket handed over, could be heard in the magistrate’s court, or if it had to be referred to the High Court.

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.

The investigating officer in the matter had testified that Jayde was shot twice through the back and at close range through the head.

It is alleged that her husband paid Luthando Siyoli, 31, a bouncer at his nightclub in Algoa Park, to hire a hitman, identified as Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, to murder his wife.

Another man, Sinethemba Nenembe, 28, had also been linked to the case.

Siyoli, however, has since turned State witness.

Naledi Shange, News24