State pushing ahead with trial of ex-witness in Jayde Panayiotou murder

Luthando Siyoni, the man who allegedly helped Christopher Panayiotou arrange his wife’s murder, has been advised to ready himself for trial in the Port Elizabeth High Court.

The case was postponed on Thursday to September 20, by which time he needs to have settled his legal fees, reports HeraldLIVE.

Acting Judge Vinesh Naidoo said he would not grant any further postponements and that a trial date would then be set.

Siyoni is accused of acting as the middleman in Jayde Panayiotou’s hit murder in April 2015.

Her husband, Christopher Panayiotou, was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the kidnap and murder of his teacher wife, who was 29 years old.

It is alleged that Siyoni, who had initially agreed to testify against Panayiotou in exchange for indemnity from prosecution, helped recruit the hitmen and acted as the middleman in exchange for money.

His section 204 status was revoked by the high court when he recanted his confession to the police.

The former nightclub bouncer surprised the prosecution and claimed in court that he had been beaten and forced to implicate his former boss.

An incriminating recording of Christopher Panayiotou in conversation with Siyoni, shown during the businessman's trial, forms part of an application for leave to appeal filed to the Constitutional Court by Panayiotou.

In the video recording, Panayiotou can be seen patting Siyoni down to check for police wiring before telling him to destroy his phone and go into hiding.

Panayiotou, who is 18 months into his sentence at St Albans maximum security centre in the Eastern Cape, is arguing that the recording would not have been obtained but for the violation of Siyoni’s rights.

“The transcript of the recording of our conversation provides damning evidence against me. I cannot challenge the evidence on the basis of it being inaccurate,” he wrote in court papers, filed earlier this month.

“I challenge it solely on it being obtained unconstitutionally through the torture and ill-treatment of a witness.”

The state has indicated its intention to oppose the application for leave to appeal.

The affidavit signals the end of the road for Panayiotou, 32, who has been unsuccessful in three previous bids for appeal, including a petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

If he fails to have the conviction overturned, or if the court resolves not to hear the application altogether, there is nowhere left for him to turn.