No remorse, no answers

“When the [sting] video was played here in this very courtroom and Panayiotou’s involvement in her murder exposed, he remained nonchalant. Maybe to him, it was just business, given his acumen to it.”

Jayde’s younger sister, Toni Inggs, said this was now her family’s time to mourn.

“For nearly three years my private family has had no choice but to share all our pictures and memories with everyone whilst we weren’t even capable of revisiting those memories ourselves. We will now try to put the pieces of our lives back together.”

Inggs said the time had finally come for the family to close this chapter of their lives.

“It has been hard to truly grieve Jayde and it’s been almost impossible just to think about her and her greatness. Every moment of every day revolved around the accused.”

She thanked the community for their overwhelming support.

Chetty said after Panayiotou had hatched a plan to kill Jayde, 29, it had been the monetary incentive that provided the catalyst for Nemembe and Sibeko to take part in the diabolical plot. They each then shared in the blood money.

The crime, to a certain extent, was unbelievable. “[Panayiotou’s] conduct in the aftermath of Jayde’s disappearance establishes the full extent of his machiavellian personality.”

The charade had begun when Jayde’s friend, Cherise Swanepoel, phoned Panayiotou on April 21 2015 to enquire about her whereabouts.

The defence has 14 days to bring an application for leave to appeal against the conviction.