The legal heavyweights facing off in the Panayiotou murder trial

The highly anticipated trial of the Jayde Panayiotou murder suspects starts on Tuesday in the Port Elizabeth High Court.

The state faces a tough task as it sets out to prove how the hit on Jayde Panayiotou was carried out‚ while the defence will attack the credibility of the state’s evidence.

We look at the legal eagles who will square off over the next eight weeks.

MARIUS STANDER

Prosecutor Marius Stander has telltale courtroom characteristics.

When he becomes excited during cross-examination‚ he tugs on his robe before rubbing his hands together.

• Was Jayde Panayiotou's 'hitman' poisoned?Fears that Sizwezakhe Vumazonke had been poisoned emerged yesterday as the suspected hitman slipped into a coma.

His record speaks for itself and the Panayiotou murder trial is no different.

He has been involved from the get-go‚ working tirelessly in the days leading up to a sting operation which saw Christopher Panayiotou nabbed for his wife’s murder‚ and in the countless applications thereafter he has managed to keep the businessman behind bars for well over a year.

At times‚ Stander pushed the limits‚ encroaching on unfamiliar territory as he argued civil applications against some of the top silks in the country retained by the Panayiotou family.

And‚ for the most part‚ Stander came out on top.

In a case which also relied heavily on circumstantial evidence‚ finalised in front of Judge Dayalin Chetty last month‚ Stander secured life sentences for a hardened criminal and his two hitmen who executed a state witness in July.

• Panayiotou pre-trial postponedPre-trial proceedings in the Christopher Panayiotou murder case were postponed in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday after his co-accused said that he was ill.

A local boytjie‚ Stander matriculated from Andrew Rabie High School before obtaining his LLB from the now-Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

He joined the district division of the National Prosecuting Authority in Uitenhage in 1993. By 1994‚ he had worked his way up to the regional court division.

In 1996‚ Stander was admitted as an advocate of the high court‚ where his career prosecuting some of the most high-profile criminal cases in the Eastern Cape began.

In 1998‚ he took over the management and administration of the witness protection programme for the Eastern Cape‚ a function he still conducts.

The following year‚ he was promoted to senior state advocate.

• State to run fingerprints to confirm identity of new Jayde murder suspectThe latest person to be arrested in connection with Jayde Panayiotou’s murder made a brief appearance in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday morning.

A career highlight for Stander was the 2009 conviction of ponzi queen Maureen Clifford. More than R155-million was lost in the scheme and‚ with at least 800 witnesses called‚ the trial lasted years.

It was at the same time that Stander discovered his passion for housebreaking cases.

The surge in these crimes in Nelson Mandela Bay saw Stander launch a project addressing the shortcomings of fingerprint evidence‚ as well as the use of cellphone evidence – something he will rely heavily on in the Panayiotou case.

With the shortcomings exposed‚ a new system was put in place and since 2013 Stander has been presenting lectures on the “Practical approach to fingerprint-evidence”.

In 2001‚ and subsequent to a hostage drama at St Albans Prison‚ Stander obtained a landmark judgment when he successfully applied to prosecute the four men responsible inside the prison.

• Cellphone plotting leads to another arrest in Jayde murder caseCellphone plotting has apparently resulted in police arresting another person in connection with the murder of Jayde Panayiotou.

The financial costs for the security and transportation of these men back then would have cost the taxpayer an estimated R80 000 a day.

A court was established inside St Albans‚ where over three months Stander prosecuted the accused behind bars.

The men were ultimately sentenced to a combined 132 years’ imprisonment.

The specially built court is still in use.

JUDGE DAYALIN CHETTY

He is a respected legal mind with more than 17 years on the bench. It therefore came as no surprise when Judge Dayalin Chetty was picked as the man who will ultimately decide the fate of murder-accused Christopher Panayiotou and his two alleged hitmen.

• Murder accused Panayiotou’s final bid for bail turned downMurder accused Christopher Panayiotou has failed in his final bid for bail with Magistrate Abigail Beeton ruling on Friday that his lawyers failed to present any sufficient new facts.

His no-nonsense attitude and on-point judgments have kept the legal fraternity on their toes for almost two decades as his rulings have survived appeal after appeal.

It has made him one of the most respected presiding officers in the Eastern Cape High Court division.

Chetty‚ 63‚ will now make vital decisions in what is expected to be a mammoth eight-week long murder trial.

He became one of the first black advocates to join the Port Elizabeth Bar in 1979‚ a stint which lasted until 1999‚ when he landed a permanent spot on the bench of the South Eastern Cape Local High Court division.

Before that‚ between 1996 and 1998‚ he held a spot on the bench of the Constitutional Court‚ and between 2000 and 2001‚ Chetty acted as a judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

• Jayde Panayiotou murder: Middleman’s girlfriend spilled the beansAlleged middleman Luthando Siyoni’s girlfriend was the first one to cave in during questioning – telling a policeman everything she knew about Uitenhage schoolteacher Jayde Panayiotou’s murder.

He attended the University of Durban-Westville where he obtained his BA in 1975. In 1977‚ he obtained his law degree.

In 2002‚ Chetty delivered a landmark judgment in which he found the state liable for damages suffered by Alix Carmichele‚ a photographer who was attacked in Noetzie by a violent criminal with a history of sexual assault.

Carmichele‚ represented by advocate Terry Price‚ had sued the then-minister of safety and security for negligence for failing to keep the perpetrator in custody pending a rape trial.

Most recently‚ Chetty convicted three hitmen of murdering a state witness.

TERRY PRICE

His presence is somewhat larger than life. His booming voice can be heard in the corridors of the courthouse before he is seen.

Advocate Terry Price SC has been described as many things.

He is hot-headed‚ cocky and a bit bullish‚ but his colleagues and clients will tell you that he has a heart of gold and will go to the ends of the earth to prove someone’s innocence.

He has built up a strong relationship with the Panayiotou family‚ which is evident from his protective stance‚ particularly over Christopher’s mother.

Price‚ who obtained his BA LLB from Rhodes University‚ is able to speak fluently in English‚ Afrikaans and Xhosa.

He has a great memory‚ able to recall some of his oldest cases at the drop of a hat – a rare talent for someone who has been in the profession since 1985.

While his temper sometimes gets him into trouble‚ his growing popularity is undeniable.

Price managed to have drug charges dropped against US socialite Paris Hilton when she was bust for allegedly smoking dagga at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium during the 2010 soccer World Cup.

He also represented former Congress of South African Trade Unions boss Zwelinzima Vavi when he was accused of rape in July 2013. The charges were later withdrawn.

Price was a junior advocate on the team representing Stellenbosch murder accused Fred van der Vyver‚ who was tried for the 2005 murder of his girlfriend‚ Inge Lotz.

While the evidence against him seemed overwhelming‚ his lawyers managed to turn the tables on the police‚ accusing them of fabricating evidence.

In 2007‚ Judge Deon van Zyl acquitted Van der Vyver of Lotz’s murder.

Similarly‚ Price has already indicated that he will allege in this case that the state’s key witness‚ middleman Luthando Siyoni‚ was assaulted and forced to implicate Panayiotou in Jayde’s murder.

If he succeeds‚ all the evidence which emerged after the alleged assault will be ruled inadmissible.

Price started out as a senior public prosecutor in Middelburg in then-Transvaal in 1985.

He joined the then Attorney-General’s office as a state advocate between 1987 and 1991.

He joined the Bar Council of Advocates in 2006.

A career highlight was when he represented Knysna photographer Alix Carmichele‚ proving the state liable for failing to keep a dangerous perpetrator behind bars.

Francois Coetzee‚ accused of attempting to sexually assault another woman‚ attacked Carmichele while out on bail.

The landmark victory means the state can be held liable for failing to protect its citizens.

In October 2014‚ Price was awarded silk status.

ALWYN GRIEBENOW

From prosecutor to magistrate to the Eastern Cape’s foremost defence attorney‚ at the age of 52 Alwyn Griebenow has worn many hats.

After obtaining his law degree‚ Griebenow went on to work for the state as a prosecutor before becoming a magistrate.

In 1994‚ he opened up his own practice and has built up an elite client list.

He is charismatic‚ confident and incredibly smart‚ making him the obvious choice of counsel for Christopher Panayiotou.

Having worked closely with advocate Terry Price throughout the years‚ the two – although vastly different – have always made a formidable team.

Together they have represented the likes of tennis ace Bob Hewitt‚ who this year started serving a prison sentence for rape and sexual assault‚ and Livingstone Makashola‚ who was acquitted on drug charges in 2014 following a mammoth trial.

In 1997‚ Griebenow represented serial killer Stewart “Boetie Boer” Wilkens. He was convicted in 1998 on 10 counts of murder and seven more counts of sodomy.

In 2005‚ Griebenow managed to prevent a group of suspected mercenaries being held in Zimbabwe from being extradited to Equatorial Guinea‚ where they would have faced the death sentence for an alleged planned coup.

In addition to having the case transferred to South Africa‚ Griebenow saw to it that all the charges were later dropped.

PETER DAUBERMANN

Advocate Peter Daubermann’s vast experience will come in handy as he has arguably one of the toughest and most important roles in the Panayiotou trial.

Daubermann‚ who has until now used a more reserved approach when compared to his learned friends and has managed to steer clear of public scrutiny‚ is representing alleged hitmen Sinethemba Nemembe and Zolani Sibeko.

The tech-savvy Daubermann lives up to his name. He is known for his intelligent‚ aggressive cross-examination and has made a name for himself in the Eastern Cape. He started as an administrative assistant at the Department of Justice in 1976 and quickly worked his way up the ranks‚ becoming a state prosecutor in Grahamstown in 1985.

Between May 1988 and May 1989‚ he acted as a magistrate before becoming a prosecutor in the high court. Daubermann went into private practice in 1997.

In 2012‚ Daubermann and advocate Terry Price represented a card-cloning syndicate with international links.

- TMG Digital/The Herald