S v Panayiotou

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: Chetty J
• Judgment Date: 02 November 2017
• Citation: 2017 JDR 1739 (ECP)
• Docket Number: CC 26/2016
• Court: Eastern Cape Division

Chetty J:

[1]

Uxoricide, an amalgam of the Latin Uxor, meaning wife, and, conjoined by the suffix cide, from caedere, meaning "to cut", "to kill" is a word, aeons old, which connotes the murder of a wife by her husband. This is the quintessence of this trial in which Christopher Constantinou Panayiotou is principally charged with the murder of his spouse, the deceased, Jayde Lyn Panayiotou.

[2]

The indictment cites four (4) persons as the accused viz,

Christopher Constantinou Panayiotou,	Accused No.1
Sizwezakhe Vumazonke,	Accused No. 2
Sinethemba Nemembe, and	Accused No. 3
Zolani Sibeko.	Accused No. 4

Prior to the commencement of the trial accused no. 2 died but his demise has however not precipitated an amendment to the enumeration of the individual accused. To aid the narrative, I shall, in the course of this judgment, refer to the

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remaining accused as per the citation, the deceased interchangeably as Jayde or the deceased and the witnesses by surname. The accused are charged on multiple counts, to wit, conspiracy to commit murder (in contravention of Section 18(2)(a) of the Riotous Assemblies Act, Act 17 of 1956) (count 1); robbery with aggravating circumstances as envisaged in section 1(1)(b) of Act 51 of 1977 (count 2); kidnapping (count 3); murder (count 4); unlawful possession of a firearm (in contravention of Section 3 read with sections 1, 103, 117, 120(1)(a), and section 121, and also read with schedule 4 of the Firearms Act, Act 60 of 2000, and further read with section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977) (count 5); unlawful possession of ammunition (in contravention of Section 90 read with sections 1, 103, 117, 120(1)(a), and section 121, and also read with schedule 4 of the Firearms Act, Act 60 of 2000, and further read with section 250 of the Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977) (count 6). Accused no. 1 faces an additional charge (count 7) of defeating and obstructing the course of justice. The gravamen of the charges in respect of each count is tabulated as follows: -

Count 1 - WHEREAS the accused associated with each other, Luthando Siyoni, and other persons unknown to the State in a common design and/or enterprise to kill JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, an adult female;

AND WHEREAS the accused so associated themselves with and/or joined in such conspiracy or enterprise at

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various places at or near Port Elizabeth and/ or Uitenhage in the districts of PORT ELIZABETH and/ or UITENHAGE and committed various crimes and/or acts or omissions in furtherance of the said conspiracy or enterprise

NOW THEREFORE the accused are guilty of the offence of contravening Section 18(2)(a) of Act 17 of 1956

In that during the period September 2014 to 21 April 2015, and at various places at or near Port Elizabeth and/ or Uitenhage in the districts of PORT ELIZABETH and UITENHAGE, the accused, the one, the other or all of them acting in concert and in the execution of a common purpose did unlawfully and intentionally conspire with each other and with others to kill JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, an adult female.

Count 2 - In that, on or about 21 April 2015, and at Stellen Glen Complex, Deacon Road, Kabega Park, in the district of PORT ELIZABETH, the said accused, the one, the other or all of them acting in concert and in the execution of a common purpose, did, unlawfully and with intent to induce her to submit , do violence to JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, an adult female , and then and there by means of such

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force and violence take and steal from out of her immediate care and possession, certain property, to wit

•

A number of rings;

•

A cellular phone;

•

A bag containing a wallet with bank cards and/ or other credit cards;

•

A laptop; and

•

R3,500-00 in cash

the property of JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, and/or in the lawful possession of JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, and did rob her of the same.

Count 3 - In that, on or about 21 April 2015, and at Stellen Glen Complex, Deacon Road, Kabega Park, in the district of PORT ELIZABETH, the said accused, the one, the other or all of them acting in concert and in the execution of a common purpose did unlawfully and intentionally deprive JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, an adult female, of her liberty by using force to place her in the trunk of a motor vehicle.

Count 4 - In that, on or about 21 April 2015, and in close proximity to the Rooihoogte Road, KwaNobuhle, in the district of UITENHAGE, the said accused, the one, the other or all of them acting in concert and in the execution of a common

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purpose did unlawfully and intentionally kill JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU, an adult female by shooting her with a firearm.

Count 5 - In that, on or about 21 April 2015, and at various places between Stellen Glen Complex, Deacon Road, Kabega Park, in the district of PORT ELIZABETH and the Rooihoogte area, KwaNobuhle, in the district of UITENHAGE, the accused did unlawfully have in their possession a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, without holding a license, permit or authorization issued in terms of Act 60 of 2000 to possess the said firearm.

Count 6 - In that, on or about 21 April 2015, and at various places between Stellen Glen Complex, Deacon Road, Kabega Park, in the district of PORT ELIZABETH and the Rooihoogte area, KwaNobuhle, in the district of UITENHAGE, the accused did unlawfully have in their possession ammunition, to wit an unknown quantity of 9mm caliber rounds of ammunition, without being the holder of a license in respect of an arm capable of discharging the said ammunition; a permit to possess the said ammunition; a dealer's, manufacturer's or gunsmith's license; an import, export, in-transit or transporter's permit; or without being otherwise authorized to do so.

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Count 7 - In that, on or about 29 April 2015, and at various places in the district of PORT ELIZABETH, accused 1 did unlawfully and with the intent to defeat or obstruct the course of justice:

•

instruct and/ or encourage Luthando Siyoni to flee Port Elizabeth in order to evade being arrested by the South African Police Service for the murder of JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU;

•

pay an amount of R4 450-00 to Luthando Siyoni in order to assist him fleeing from Port Elizabeth in order to evade being arrested by the South African Police Service for the murder of JAYDE LYN PANAYIOTOU;

•

instruct and/ or encourage Luthando Siyoni to destroy evidential material to wit cellular phone sim-cards used in communications between certain of the accused and Luthando Siyoni;

•

furnish the South African Police Service with false information regarding the whereabouts of Luthando Siyoni and/or withhold vital information from the South African Police Service regarding his contact with Luthando Siyoni; and in so doing accused 1 did defeat or obstruct the course of justice.

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[3]

The accused pleaded not guilty to the various counts. In amplification of his plea, accused no. 1 tendered a prolix document incorporating not only his defences to the charges, but his assessment of the state's anticipated testimony, hearsay, extracts from the case docket, a judgment, police standing order 252 and a collection of photographs of Mr Luthando Siyoni (Siyoni), the central figure of his plea in limine which he articulated thus: -

"I will request this Honourable Court to order a trial-within-a-trial on the basis that the evidence obtained following the removal of State witness Luthando Siyoni (LS) from Infinity Pub and Grub at approximately 20h15 on Monday 27 April 2015 is inadmissible. All the evidence following his removal and thereafter is tainted as a result of the police assaulting, intimidating and unlawfully pressurising LS to implicate me. Therefore the evidence obtained against me was unlawfully and unconstitutionally obtained by the State with the result that my right to a fair trial has been violated." [1]

His plea on the merits was enumerated as follows:-

"9.1

I deny the allegations that the State has made against me;

9.2

I deny specifically ever approaching (LS) and requesting / ordering/ asking him to find a hitman / hitmen to have my wife, the deceased, Jayde Panayiotou ("Jayde"), killed;

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9.3

Jayde and I had been married for just over 2 years at that point in time and, as far as I was concerned, we were happily married;

9.4

I loved my wife, Jayde and, in February of 2015, we made a decision to buy a house in Lovemore Park for approximately R2.2 million in which we were going to move in together and hopefully spend the rest of our lives therein;

9.5

By the time this incident occurred, the necessary bond fees and deposit has already been paid and it was just a matter of the two of us moving in." [2]

Prologue

[4]

Jayde and accused no. 1 were married to each other and resided in a gated town house complex situate at 19 Stellen Glen, Deacon Road, Kabega Park, Port Elizabeth. He was and is a businessman and, she, during her lifetime, a junior teacher at Riebeek College Girls High School in Uitenhage. Jayde and her colleague, Ms Cherise Taylor Swanepoel (Ms Swanepoel) were accustomed to travel together to Uitenhage each day by car, alternating between the usage of their respective motor vehicles weekly. Ms Swanepoel lived at 25 Ruth Street, Glen Hurd and each would be collected from their respective homes by the other. To facilitate Jayde's pick-up, Ms Swanepoel was accustomed to send her a text message when leaving her home and then collect her at the gate of the complex. This was the scheduled arrangement except that on 21 April 2015, Ms Swanepoel had texted Jayde to

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enquire whether, by reason of the inclement weather, she should not drive into the complex and...