Murder accused Panayiotou's bail hearing resumes Friday

Before the matter was adjourned on Thursday, an affidavit submitted by Panayioutou's former employee Luthando Siyoni, who is now a state witness, seemed to send the accused's lawyers into a tailspin.

Later defence Advocate Terry Price put up a brave face and said they "would work until midnight" if they had to in order to be ready for Friday, when the bail hearing would resume.

Problems for the defence became apparent after State Prosecutor Marius Stander submitted Siyoni's affidavit in which the witness denied he had been coerced or forced to sign a confession.

Lawyers for Panayiotou have previously asserted that Siyoni was forced to write a confession implicating their client.

Siyoni claimed in his affidavit that Panayiotou had allegedly communicated with him about police investigations into the murder of his wife, Jayde.

"I spoke to Chris in person soon after his wife's body was found. Chris told me that he was already investigated by the police and a possible suspect," said Siyoni.

"This was the time that Chris told me to get rid of my sim card and cell phone and he gave me R1,000.

"Chris told me to tell the police in the event of the police asking me, that our dealings were only work related and that he was helping me with a gym, the truth was that Chris never helped me with a gym."

The affidavit formed part of the state's reasons for objecting to the accused getting bail.

Investigating officer, Kanna Swanepoel, made similar claims in his affidavit and said that Siyoni agreed to co-operate with the police. He said at no stage was Siyoni assaulted or tortured to compel him to confess his involvement in the murder.

However, Price pointed out that many times before "not a single word" came from the state in denying that Siyoni was assaulted.

"In motion proceedings that means that they have conceded it. Now all of a sudden when we start pointing out to them in the very police docket they gave us, where their own police officers say he was assaulted … suddenly [they say] he wasn't assaulted," said Price.

The Port Elizabeth businessman is alleged to have orchestrated his wife, Jayde's kidnapping and subsequent murder during April last year.

It is alleged Panayiotou paid Siyoni, a bouncer at his Infinity night club, to hire hitman Sizwezakhe Vumazonke to kidnap and murder Jayde.

The state alleges that Sinethemba Nenembe assisted the alleged hitman Vumazonke to kidnap and kill Jayde, allegedly at the behest of her husband.

Stander also submitted an affidavit from IT technician and close family friend of the Panayiotous, Donovan Vosloo who is a state witness.

In his affidavit Vosloo said that he was approached by the investigating officer Lietenunt Kanna Swanepoel at the Grahamstown High Court during the time in which Panayiotou brought an application to appeal the decision by Magistrate Abigail Beeton not to grant him bail.

Vosloo said: "I was approached in the passages by Lietenunt Swanepoel who informed me that he had received information that I was responsible for the so called wiping of the cell phones of [Panayiotou's], Chanelle Coutts and Clarishka Kapp.

"He inquired from me if I was willing to make a statement. I immediately informed Swanepoel that I did not wish to make a statement and I needed to seek legal advice."

Vosloo, a local Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) IT technician, had reportedly upgraded both phones, effectively wiping out both handsets of any data, just days after Jayde Panayiotou's body had been discovered.

The police's cybercrime unit was subsequently unable to retrieve any cellphone data and experts from abroad were eventually jetted in to assist.

"I only accompanied my father out of moral support for him and the family, who I have known for years. To the best of my knowledge I was not involved in the case at all. To my knowledge I was not a witness and not asked as much as a question relating to my involvement in the matter," said Vosloo.

The matter is expected to resume at 11:15am on Friday.