Publications
Partners
Port Elizabeth - The Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court should not bow to the demands of the “morons, ignoramuses and social media experts” calling for Christopher Panayiotou to be denied bail, his lawyer said on Tuesday.
Advocate Terry Price said the bottom line was the court should bend over backwards to free a person where it could to avoid wrongfully detaining an individual.
He said that the statement from investigating officer, Lieutenant Kanna Swanepoel, saying there was public sentiment calling for his client to be denied bail was not worth the paper it was written on.
While exceptional circumstances did allow for public opinion to be considered, the court should not be swayed by people such as the man who came to court with the hangman’s noose, he said.
He asked the court to find as an exceptional circumstance the “flagrant, transparent” attempt by the State to mislead it in order to keep his client in custody.
Price was addressing the court during the continuation of Panayiotou’s bail application.
Panayiotou, 28, faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder, murder‚ kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and defeating the ends of justice.
Thando Siyoli‚ 31‚ and Sizwezakhe Vumazonke‚ 30‚ are Panayiotou’s co-accused.
The three are accused of murdering the 29-year-old Riebeek College teacher, Jayde Panayiotou, on April 21.
Her husband’s lawyer pointed out on Tuesday that the likelihood of him absconding was “laughable” and that the court could prevent him from fleeing by calling for his Cyprus ID card.
He said the State “blatantly” tried to deceive the court by saying Panayiotou had a Cypriot passport, which was not true.
He said this was a “flagrant lie” by the investigating officer to try and prove he was a flight risk.
