PORT ELIZABETH - INVESTIGATING OFFICER TAKES THE STAND AS PANAYIOTOU MURDER CASE RESUMES

The investigating officer in the Jayde Panayiotou murder case, Kanna Swanepoel, took to the stand this week for cross-examination.

Murder accused Christopher Panayiotou's lawyer, Terry Price, questioned whether Luthando Siyoni made his statement to the police voluntarily.

Siyoni was a state witness that turned hostile. Swanepoel was being questioned about visible eye injuries on Siyoni. This forms part of a trial within a trial to establish the admissibility of a video made during a sting operation.

The state is adamant that Panayiotou is the mastermind behind a plot to abduct and kill his wife, Jayde, in April 2015.

Panayiotou's defence team is trying to discredit the state's evidence and how it was gathered. The defence argued that alleged middleman Siyoni was assaulted by the investigating team, and was allegedly told that he will spend 25 years in jail if he did not help the police catch murder accused Christopher Panayiotou.

When the defence questioned the investigating officer Kanna Swanepoel's affidavit, saying what he is saying in court contradicts his statement, he replied that when he wrote the affidavit he was not being cross-examined.

The process of how permission was obtained from the Director of Public Prosecutions to set up the entrapment video took centre stage during the court proceedings.

In Swanepoel's affidavit, he says Panayiotou and Siyoni are heard in telephone conversations making arrangements to meet at his business.

However, the defence argues that Swanepoel deviated from the affidavit, and held back crucial information about the case.  The trial also dealt with the cell phone records which were submitted as evidence which allegedly have details of the communication between the businessman and Siyoni.

The court has not yet heard the cell phone recordings or seen the video footage. Swanepoel's affidavit states that Siyoni made a confession to the police.

The trial continues.