The legal fight over a video recording in which businessman Christopher Panayiotou allegedly implicates himself in his wife’s murder is set to continue today when the murder trial resumes in the Port Elizabeth High Court.
The state will on Wednesday call its next set of witnesses. Police officials will testify about the steps followed when they conducted the sting operation.
State advocate Marius Stander has previously presented a transcribed copy of the recorded conversation to the bail court and told the court Panayiotou‚ 30‚ could be heard coaxing “middleman” Luthando Siyoni to destroy evidence.
- Secret tape recordings‚ a racial slur‚ a strained relationship - what the court has heard during the Panayiotou murder trialSecret tape recordings‚ a racial slur and a strained relationship between a father and son emerged in the Port Elizabeth High Court‚ as the final week of the Panayiotou murder trial wrapped up for the year.
After patting him down‚ seemingly for a wire‚ Panayiotou allegedly told Siyoni: “It became a kidnapping and a murder instead of just making it a robbery outside the house.”
He then allegedly encouraged Siyoni‚ 37‚ to go into hiding and to get rid of his phone and SIM card so police could not trace it.
Siyoni allegedly organised hitmen to kidnap and kill Panayiotou’s wife Jayde‚ 29.
- Panayiotou murder trial to resume in AprilThe Panayiotou murder trial will resume in April‚ after eight weeks of gruelling testimony came to an end on Thursday morning.
While the recording is central to the state proving that Panayiotou orchestrated the kidnapping and murder almost two years ago‚ the defence claims Siyoni was beaten and forced to implicate the businessman‚ making the recording inadmissible.
In the trial-within-a-trial‚ Judge Dayalin Chetty must decide if the state followed the correct protocol in obtaining the sting video.
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