‘He’s not a murderer’

[caption id="attachment_89265" align="alignright" width="300"] THE OTHER WOMAN: Chanelle Coutts, who became Christopher Panayiotou's lover before he got married -[/caption]

Panayiotou’s lover finds it hard to believe he is behind Jayde’s death

CHRISTOPHER Panayiotou could not have been involved in his wife Jayde’s murder, his lover insisted yesterday.

“I don’t know what will happen with the court case but the Christopher I know is not a murderer,” Chanelle Coutts, 26, said yesterday.

Panayiotou, 28, and Coutts, who have been lovers since 2011 – a year before Panayiotou married Jayde, 29 – have not spoken to each other since his arrest in Port Elizabeth following his wife’s abduction and murder in April.

Coutts said she constantly worried about Panayiotou in prison but, given the chance to speak to him, did not know what she would say.

Coutts comes across as naive and younger than her years.

This is the only time she has spoken out on the issue, apart from an interview with You magazine.

She insists she was not paid for the interview with the magazine and merely wanted to set the record straight after they published an article in which she was accused of having received expensive gifts from Panayiotou.

Surprised to hear that she had been accused on social media of selling her story, Coutts said she no longer went online as she was tired of the insults and lies that were spread about her.

Toni Inggs, Jayde’s sister, said she had first been offered R5 000 for an interview with You. “When I declined, they offered me R50 000. I then told them to leave me alone,” she said.

You magazine refused to comment on the issue.

An upset Coutts said: “Why would you want to make money out of a situation like this?

“It is just not right. I don’t want money, I just want my life back.

“I wish things could go back to normal . . . I don’t know if those are the right words.”

Panayiotou is accused of orchestrating Jayde’s murder in April, allegedly instructing a bouncer at his club to hire a hitman.

He is expected to appeal against the decision to deny him bail sometime this week. All three men are in custody. Coutts said her lawyer, Danie Gouws, had instructed her not to speak to Panayiotou after his arrest as she could be called as a witness. But she worried about him constantly.

“The conditions at St Albans Prison are a big worry for me,” the petite brunette said.

“I don’t know how one would survive that.”

Coutts is a lot prettier in person, with a dusting of freckles on her nose. She is friendly and smiles a lot, but her eyes are sad and she becomes tearful when asked about life after Panayiotou’s arrest.

“I think people recognise me when I go places,” she said.

“They stare a lot, but luckily no one has approached me.”

She said the situation had been hard on her mother, with whom she shares a flat in Algoa Park. They are very close.

Coutts is the youngest of three children. Her parents are divorced and she does not have much contact with her father.

“My family was very disappointed in me when I told them about the affair,” she said.

“But they love and support me, and it’s hard for them to read what people are saying about me.

“They can’t say anything because then they will just be targeted as well.”

Coutts said her family had not suspected she was having an affair with Panayiotou and had thought they were just good friends.

She said Panayiotou’s family had also been upset when they found out about the extramarital affair. She decided to tell his parents after the media got wind of it.

“I don’t know if they did or did not know [about us]. I just thought it would be the right thing to tell them.” She continues to work as a store manager at OK Grocer in Algoa Park, which is co-owned by Panayiotou, his father and uncle.

His family treat her like any other employee.

Panayiotou married Jayde in 2012, a year after his affair with Coutts began.

Asked why she had stayed in a relationship with him after his marriage, she said simply: “I can’t explain what I felt.”

Pressed further, she said: “I just can’t explain it. He never told me he would leave Jayde and I never asked him to. I can’t speak for him.”

It seems she was happy to be the “other woman”. Coutts said she never had other boyfriends during her affair with Panayiotou and was committed to him. She had only had one serious boyfriend before him. Her relationship with Panayiotou was kept in the shadows.

“It was not like we could go out for a meal. We couldn’t be seen together,” she said.

Dispelling earlier rumours that she was pregnant, Coutts said she had a doctor’s note that proved she was not. “These are the kinds of untruths I wanted to correct [by speaking out]. But I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said wearily.

“I don’t want people to think I am looking for attention. I keep quiet and lies are spread; I speak out and then I am accused of selling my story.”

Panayiotou, alleged middleman Luthando Siyoli, 31, and alleged hitman Sizwezakhe Vumazonke, 30, are expected back in court on August 13.

- Kathryn Kimberley