A Facebook group that was set up after Jayde Panayiotou was found dead, which called for the death penalty for the killer, changed its tune when her husband, Christopher, was confirmed as another suspect in her killing by changing its name to "Justice for Jayde Panayiotou – Change for South Africa"
According to Saturday Star, this sparked a race row, with complaints centering on whether the administrator of the page only endorsed the death penalty when they thought the murderer(s) were black.
The administrator's response was that the change had been planned before Panayiotou had been confirmed as a suspect.
Many people felt that regardless of who the murderer was, the death penalty would be the only suitable punishment, while other argued that even though the man who ordered the murder was white, the more guilty party was the black man who pulled the trigger.
René Kleyn Real posted: Is this page really about justice for Jayde??? Or is it about protecting a murderer?, with Vuyokazi Vuvu echoing the same sentiment: I dont understand some of u guys last week there was a post of a black guy who was a Suspect and we all said Justice must be served and we were all angry, but now that the Husband is involved some of u are protecting this Guy, if u say he is not guilty until proven guilty apply that to the other two guys as well. Stop defending a murderer they must all rot in Jail
Others weighed in on the subject on Twitter, with Karen Pinto tweeting: “89% of crimes committed in SA are committed by blacks – stats. The murderer was a black person; a black pulled the trigger – the white man ordered it.”
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