Firstly, I’m sorry we didn’t get to view anything yesterday. I also had a Youtube link but both were from HeraldLive and neither of them worked. Maybe today, but don’t hold your breath.
From Karyn Maughan’s tweets yesterday:
The adjournment has been extended again until noon. The latest affidavit from the State alleges that CP and his mistress’s phones have both been wiped and nothing can be extracted from. (Does this sound familiar?) CP doesn’t deny wiping the phones but denies it was done for a criminal purpose. The State attempted to get help from the FBI in retrieving the information from both phones but they were unable to help. Yet a further adjournment until 2:00pm.
And action … proceedings finally got underway. Prosecutor Marius Stander reopens his case to address questions re the passport and CP’s travels. CP and the mistress’s phones were wiped 4-5 days after Jayde was murdered. Investigator Swanepoel says a possible reason for this was to destroy conversations re the passport. CP has travelled overseas a number of times, one of those trips being for his honeymoon. He used a SA passport for these trips. The State closes its case.
Price repeats that CP applied for his passport 2 years ago but it wasn’t collected. The State doesn’t know why and tells the Court that SA can’t order the Cypriot embassy not to hand over the passport to CP. In other words, if it’s still at the embassy, he can collect it.
Magistrate Beeton tells Price that he needs to show exceptional circumstances to justify bail being granted. He says Swanepoel stated in his affidavit that the community is upset but that the Magistrate isn’t here to “here to satisfy morons, cretins, psychopaths, social media junkies”. He says the police stated that they had a strong case re OscarP and yet he got bail. The case against CP is not unassailable. In the transcript of recording, he says it was only supposed to be a robbery and they’ll be challenging the admissibility of the recording.
Price casts scorn on state argument that CP is a flight risk and says, "Where is he going to run to? in desperation the state seeks a motive... So they've turned a sexual affair into a motive for murder. Good grief." He then comments on the battered appearance of the alleged hitman.
Price says that it’s no good for state to say that CP will destroy evidence (but he already admits that he has) or interfere with witnesses. “This court caters to reasonable objective citizens. Not palookas running around with nooses and placards”. He says the State’s claims re the passport is “is a dirty lie” designed to persuade Beeton that CP is a flight risk. So ends Price’s argument.
Stander then responds by explaining to Beeton that all CP ever had to do was advise Swanepoel that he had dual citizenship, but he never did. Neither the police nor prosecutors are allowed to liaise with the Cypriot government. The reason they assumed CP had the new passport was because he applied for it 2 years ago. (I’d have to agree with this. Most people collect them shortly after they’re issued, not years later. Who’s to say at this point that as he never collected it, he reapplied for a new passport recently). Nevertheless, he’ll accept that CP doesn’t have the new passport if the Defence confirm this.
Stander denies Price’s claims that the hitman has confessed. He reveals that "There is a process in place with Thando Siyoli" - ie an arrangement/possible deal being negotiated”. He says, “There will be a plea and sentence deal done with Thando Siyoli, alleged middleman”.
“His financial situation will suffer. The same as any other incarcerated person”. Costa (CP’s father) has a 45% share in the OK Grocer and does not mention that there would be problems if CP isn’t there, and he proceeds to list all the shareholders, employees that could run CP’s businesses while he's in jail. He slams claims that the OK Grocer will go down the drain if he’s kept in jail.
Stander repeats his claim that CP is a flight risk and states that the Defence hasn’t shown any exceptional circumstances justifying bail. He adds that CP will interfere with witnesses. He refers to the Defence’s claim that CP first claimed he had "nowhere to run to" but later admitted his dad has house in Cyprus.
This brings us up-to-date. Sorry for the late posting but I’ve had a busy day.
