Jayde cop fends off court claims

The Port Elizabeth High Court was packed to capacity as the anticipated face-off between Captain Kanna Swanepoel and defence advocate Terry Price SC finally took place – almost two years after Panayiotou was arrested for allegedly orchestrating the murder of his wife. Price put it to Swanepoel that:

• He destroyed the consultation notes between self-confessed middleman Luthando Siyoni and his attorney at the time by flushing them down the loo;
• He tried to convince alleged hitman Sinethemba Nemembe and co-conspirator Zolani Sibeko to dump their lawyer and instead hire an attorney of Swanepoel’s choosing; and
• He wrote a statement and tried to force a disgruntled former employee of Panayiotou’s to sign it.
• Price also said state advocate Marius Stander had spoken to Panayiotou’s mistress, Chanelle Coutts, in a derogatory manner.

But Swanepoel, who was testifying in a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of a sting video where the Port Elizabeth businessman allegedly implicated himself, said he had done everything by the book.

He had had a good relationship with Siyoni and initially trusted what he told him.

While Siyoni was in protective custody, he had fetched a blanket from his home to give to Siyoni because it was cold at the Humewood police station.

When Siyoni complained about not having a radio, he had given him his own radio to use.

“Everything he told me checked out when I followed up.

“For instance, he told me that after Panayiotou gave him money [after Jayde’s murder], he met with [now deceased alleged hitman] Sizwezakhe Vumazonke at a KFC. After viewing the KFC’s video footage, I saw that this was indeed so,” Swanepoel said.

Siyoni has since recanted on his confession, claiming police beat him and forced him to implicate his former boss.

Price said Siyoni had consulted with lawyer Ryno Scholtz while in protective custody and Swanepoel had later destroyed those consultation notes to protect the state’s case.