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Port Elizabeth - Christopher Panayiotou had his wife Jayde murdered to stop getting further into debt as he was trying to keep his mistress happy, the Port Elizabeth magistrate’s court heard last week.
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
Panayiotou is currently applying for bail, which the State is opposing.
“The motive for killing the deceased is actually very simple,” investigating officer Lieutenant Rhynhardt Swanepoel said in affidavit, read to the court by prosecutor Marius Stander on Thursday.
“The applicant was in financial difficulty. He hardly managed to keep head above water.
“He was now in the process of acquiring a further R2.2m debt, which meant it would be impossible for him to keep his mistress and wife happy.”
“He was being forced into creating more debt so he decided to have the deceased killed, not to gain financially, but to curtail his ever-increasing debt.”
Earlier the State had given evidence that Panayiotou had been having a sexual relationship and extra-marital affair with Chanelle Coutts, 26.
Panayiotou denied claims that debt could be his motive in his responding affidavit, submitting a list of his assets and liabilities which showed his net worth in February this year had exceeded R3m.
He, however, admitted to having an affair with Coutts for the past three years, but said it had no bearing on the case.
