PORT ELIZABETH - PE HIGH COURT POSTPONES PANAYIOTOU MURDER TRIAL TO APRIL 2017

The Eastern Cape High Court has postponed the murder trial against Christopher Panayiotou and his two co-accused until next year.

Judge Dayalin Chetty postponed the matter due to unavailability of both counsel.

The trial will commence again on April 19 until May 5 and June 12 until June 30, 2017.

On Thursday, defence advocate Terry Price brought yet another application before court which was dismissed by Chetty.

Price requested state witnesses be made available to consult with the defence.

At this stage, a trial within a trial is underway, dealing with the admissibility of a video recording taken during an undercover police sting operation in which Panayiotou allegedly implicates himself.

Witnesses, who the defence wanted to consult with, included Panayiotou’s mistress Chanelle Coutts, Donovan Vosloo who allegedly wiped the businessman’s phones, and accountant Wilma Van de Bergh.

Price also wanted the opportunity to consult with previously declared hostile witnesses, alleged middleman Luthando Siyoni and his girlfriend Babalwa Breakfast.

“Chanelle Coutts’s evidence is crucial, we will hear from her that witnesses were threatened,” said Price.

State advocate Marius Stander objected strongly to the application and said that this was the first time a request had been made to consult with state witnesses.

“I’m not in a position to say which of these witnesses the state will call, the state is not making any witnesses available to the defence.”

“The state doesn’t even know what the defence wants to know from these witnesses, whether it relates to merits of the case, the trial within a trial or their affidavits,” Stander argued.

Chetty ruled that he was unconvinced that Panayiotou would be prejudiced if lawyers did not consult with state witnesses.

It also emerged that Zolani Sibeko intended to bring a bail application before court next week.

Sibeko was the last suspect to be arrested in connection with Jayde’s murder – 15 months after she was killed.

Sibeko was apparently placed outside Jayde’s Stellen Glen Complex through cellphone mapping in the days before her murder.

VIA - algoafm.co.za