All indications are that the trial-within-a-trial called to determine the admissibility of a sting recording will wrap up in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Friday.
On Thursday‚ the defence for alleged wife killer Christopher Panayiotou‚ 30‚ presented the court with a ripped pair of jeans they claim “middleman” Luthando Siyoni was wearing the night of his arrest in April 2015.
Advocate Terry Price SC said Siyoni was beaten so badly by police – in order to implicate his former boss – that his jeans were ripped in the process.
State advocate Marius Stander‚ meanwhile‚ was sceptical.
- State goes after cash ‘paid for Jayde Panayiotou hit’The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) has gone after the money Christopher Panayiotou allegedly paid a former employee to take out a hit on his wife.
He found it strange that Siyoni’s mother‚ Thembisa Siyoni‚ had now come to court to testify that Siyoni was wearing that pair of jeans when he was nabbed two years ago‚ yet she could not remember what top he was wearing.
Thembisa Siyoni also testified that her son had a swollen right eye‚ yet the evidence before court was that it was his left eye that was swollen due to the alleged torture.
-TMG Digital/HeraldLIVE
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