Lover left in shadows as Jayde's husband seeks bail

05 July 2015 - 02:00 By NASHIRA DAVIDS

Chanelle Coutts now leads a solitary life - isolated from her friends and the man she loves. Her lawyer, Danie Gouws, says he has advised her not to speak to Christopher Panayiotou, who stands accused of murdering his wife Jayde. This week a date was set for the businessman to appeal the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court's decision to deny him bail.As his court battle intensifies, his lover is fighting to keep her life from falling apart. After death threats and a near psychological breakdown, Coutts has gone back to managing the grocery store owned by the Panayiotous in Algoa Park. But, Gouws said, she was afraid.The social media onslaught against her shows no signs of dying down.mini_story_image_hleft1"Obviously on social media she is still not being treated in a good way," said Gouws."She is not talking to her friends at this stage. She is just by herself. She goes to work and goes back home and from there she will come to my offices if she needs to speak to me. She works, goes back home and stays at home. You can understand she is frightened to go out."Recently she spoke candidly to YOU magazine to dispel rumours doing the rounds - that she was pregnant with Panayiotou's baby, that she was promoted from cashier to manager when they started the affair and that she would take to the stand to connect him to the murder.Gouws insisted she spoke out only to "right the wrongs" and that there was no financial motive behind the rare interview."If she says something in the media, everyone jumps on her, and if she doesn't, everyone jumps on her anyway," he said.In the interview, she detailed her affair with Panayiotou and the physical attraction that started the first day they met. They had kissed on their first date but only had sex later in the relationship, she said."In the beginning we saw each other when we could. It wasn't a daily thing. It wasn't only about sex - he is my best friend," Coutts told the magazine.story_article_right1But they had to keep their secret and met at hotels. She said they often simply went for a drive after work to talk. People who spoke to the Sunday Times shortly after his arrest said they had often spotted the pair together at the shopping complex. And often they were openly affectionate.It emerged in court that the romance between Panayiotou and Coutts started a year before he married Jayde, whom he had dated for years.In his affidavit to court, investigating officer Lieutenant Rhynhardt Swanepoel said Coutts was jealous of Jayde.A Facebook page, Prayers For Jayde Panayiotou, was started and Coutts apparently endorsed it by clicking the "like" option.In response, a user wrote: "I can't believe Chanelle Coutts liked this page." Another added: "She is common." Other comments on social media included that she was a "stupid little girl" and that she would be the next to die.Panayiotou is accused of paying Luthando Siyoli to hire Sizwezakhe Vumazonke to kidnap and murder his wife. In the High Court in Grahamstown on July 20, the businessman will appeal the decision of the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court to deny him bail...

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