Jayde, 29, a Port Elizabeth school teacher, was murdered in April 2015, allegedly at the instruction of her husband, Christopher Panayiotou. Picture: Facebook.
UITENHAGE school teacher Jayde Panayiotou was trapped in a private hell in the months leading to her murder.
In a heart-breaking note, seen exclusively by The Herald, which now forms part of the state’s case against Jayde’s husband, Christopher, 30, the young Riebeek College teacher agonises over his lack of affection, his secretiveness and long working hours.
She said she longed to be loved. In an almost child-like handwriting, Jayde wrote: “Where do I turn to? Nobody to talk to.
“I write these words because I no longer have space inside. I may just explode.”
In a heart-breaking note, seen exclusively by The Herald, Jayde agonises over her husband’s lack of affection, his secretiveness and long working hours.
State advocate Marius Stander handed the letter to the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday as he argued against Panayiotou’s latest bid for bail.
On September 21 2014, Jayde wrote: “I’m jealous when I see other people living the life I so desperately long for.”
Seven months later, on April 21, she was murdered, allegedly on the instruction of her husband.
Jayde’s mother, Michelle Inggs, and younger sister, Toni, clung to each other and cried as details emerged of how the pretty 29-year-old had been hit on the head and shoved in the boot of a car, her fingers crushed as the boot was slammed shut.
Her abductors then drove to an open field in KwaNobuhle township, where they shot her three times.
The chilling details of her murder were revealed in response to claims by the defence that there was no evidence to support the state’s theory that Jayde had been hit over the head or that she had been put in the boot of a vehicle.
Defence advocate Terry Price SC had told the court that this was just one instance in which Stander had misled the bail court in May last year.
But reading the affidavit of investigating officer Lieutenant Kanna Swanepoel into the record yesterday, Stander said: “The postmortem reveals bilateral periorbital haemotomas. “This is caused by blunt force. “[Jayde] had a laceration to two of her fingers on the right hand that would fit in with her hand being crushed in the lock mechanism of the boot.
“Upon examination of the boot of the vehicle, it was sprayed with Bluestar – an agent that reacts to human blood. “The Bluestar reacted positively.” Stander said that between July and August 2014, Panayiotou’s father, Constiantinos, had approached family friend and policeman Warrant Officer Leon Eksteen with suspicions that his son was having an affair.
“[Constiantinos] approached Eksteen and wanted to know whether he could ascertain whether a female manager at the OK Grocer [in Algoa Park], Chanelle Coutts, was with Christopher,” Swanepoel said in the affidavit. “[Constiantinos] suspected that Coutts was with his son. “He was extremely upset and indicated that, if it was the case, he wanted nothing further to do with him … would disinherit him.”
In September that year, Jayde wrote: “I want a normal life. A husband that comes home at a normal time, has a normal job and makes time for his wife and family.
“Somebody that doesn’t hide me or cover up. Always respects and puts his wife first.
“[A husband that] can understand and see how having all the money in the world is not as important as building a life with his wife.”
It emerged in court later that Panayiotou was involved in a sexual relationship with Coutts. Stander said yesterday that shortly after Jayde’s disappearance on April 21 last year, Constiantinos had contacted Eksteen, asking him to assist.
He allegedly told him that he truly hoped his son was not involved in Jayde’s disappearance.
Next to scribbles of a cross, Jayde wrote further: “I don’t know if I can live this life. I don’t know how much more I can take.
“Why does he hide so much from me and why is it impossible to communicate with him?
“I write these words because I no longer have space inside. I may just explode.”
Stander said Price had failed to prove the existence of new facts and most of his submissions had been dealt with in the previous bail application.
In an affidavit handed in to the court yesterday, self-confessed middleman Luthando Siyoni denied defence claims that he had been beaten into making a confession, thereby making it inadmissible.
Siyoni said he had admitted his involvement in Jayde’s murder freely and voluntarily.
It is alleged Panayiotou paid Siyoni, a bouncer at his nightclub Infinity, to hire hitmen Sizwezakhe Vumazonke and Sinethemba Nemembe.
“Chris was adamant the police must not find out about any dealings between me and him,” Siyoni said in the affidavit, which was dated on Monday.
“With that in mind, I made peace that there was a real possibility that the police would pay me a visit.
“I also had the same type of conversation with Sizwe, where he said I was the only connection between him and Chris and that I must be prepared should the police pay me a visit.
But when the police took him in for questioning on April 27 last year, his mind-set had changed and he no longer felt as prepared, Siyoni said.
“The police were not ‘fishing’ [for information] … they were talking straight to the point,” he said.
“It was clear to me that the police must have inside information from someone.
“There was no way that I could lie because it was clear that the police knew the truth already.
“I decided to speak the truth as I did not want to stand for something created by Christopher.”
He said he had agreed to make a confession and had been handcuffed.
“I was not satisfied with this police action as I am a proud man and initially resisted,” Siyoni said. It was then that he was allegedly injured. In a separate affidavit, Donovon Vosloo – the IT expert who wiped the data from Panayiotou’s phone after Jayde’s disappearance – said he wanted to make clear once and for all he was a state witness and had never been a witness for the defence.
The hearing continues.
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