Murder-accused Panayiotou back in court
Murder accused businessman Christopher Panayiotou and two of his alleged cohorts are expected back in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court today.
During their last appearance, their pre-trial hearing in the high court was delayed.
Legal Aid attorney Khayalethu Saziwa, for Panayiotou’s co-accused Sinethemba Nenembe, told the court that he had not yet handed a one terabyte hard drive to the State, so it could give him a copy of the docket.
In April, the court ordered Saziwa to hand the prosecution a hard drive before the appearance on Tuesday, May 3.
Saziwa told Magistrate Este Petzer the drive had only been secured on Tuesday.
Panayiotou is accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife Jayde in April last year with co-accused Sizwezakhe Vumazonke and Sinethemba Nenembe.
Panayiotou was arrested on April 28 last year. He has been held at St Albans prison as an awaiting-trial prisoner, since both his initial bail application and subsequent appeal were denied.
Vumazonke and Nenembe were also still in custody.
It is alleged that Panayiotou paid 31-year-old Luthando Siyoli, a bouncer at his nightclub in Algoa Park, to hire a hitman, identified as Vumazonke, 30, to murder his wife.
Late in October last year, Nenembe, 28, was also linked to the case.
Siyoli has since turned State witness.
(File photo)