GUILTY South Africa - Jayde Panayiotou, 28, Port Elizabeth, 21 April 2015

[JudgeJudi]

PD: The position is simply the state must first put up a prima facie case.

PD: Only then is the accused required to arise to the challenge and answer the allegations.

PD: In this case the state has not done so.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: In this case, the state relies mainly on cellphone records to prove its case against 3 and 4.

The cellphone records are critical to your decision, and I'm sure he will concede that, without the cellphone records he has no case.

PD: In seeking to prove the cellphone record, he is relying on a section of the law, which requires accused 3 and 4 to prove, which I deem to be unconstitutional, that it is up to them to show the records are incorrect.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: refers to his application that he raised previously where he had challenged the constitutionality of the procedure.

PD says he had raised the point, and that the state had made its argument, and that Chetty had then adjourned and the following day had dismissed the application on the basis of procedure.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD says the rule that Chetty used to dismiss the ruling, did not apply to criminal proceedings.

PD: I would have had to ask your lordship to postpone proceedings, to give the 20 days notice, which would have been contrary to my clients rights to a speedy trial.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: I am not here to see that my clients get a fair trial, you are, my lord.

PD: I want to refer your lordship to sub rule 9, of rule 16 (a)

PD: Your lordship could simply have given notice to the relevant persons.

PD: My submission is that my lordship was clearly wrong in that decision.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: How must accused 3 and 4 know about the cellphone records.

PD: I am going to deal with the case that, even if you apply that presumption, the state still has no case against them.

PD: There are in essence three main cellphone numbers that are being contested.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: The cellphone belonging to Vumazonke, allegedly the cellphone belonging to Sibeko and the cellphone allegedly belonging to Nenembe.

PD: At no time have accused 3 and 4 admitted that these cellphone numbers belong to them.

PD: So, as a bare minimum, the State was required to prove the location of where the relevant cellphone towers are located.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: And, in this case, the majority of the towers concerned would be MTN towers.

PD: The only evidence your lordship heard regarding the MTN towers was from Mr Kanti of MTN.

PD: Reads from the court records relating to Kantis testimony relating to the locations of cellphone towers.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Shows that Mr Kanti told the court that he didn't do the plotting of the cell towers himself, he got it from the planning department and that he didn't have access to the information itself.

PD: He then goes on to explain the maps, and explains the towers.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: My learned friend should have called the people who did the actual plotting.

PD: This evidence is not evidence of the actual towers.

PD: What this means is that the state has failed to prove the location of the towers, and if it has failed to prove the location of the towers, it has failed to make its case against accused 3 and 4.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: A further requirement for my learned friend to succeed in this matter, he was required to prove what the footprint, sometimes referred to the range, of each tower.

PD: He called reps from 3 companies.

PD: None of the three called were experts in how cellphone towers work.

PD: But let us leave that. What did they say about the range and footprint of these towers?

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Calls up the map, which shows the range, with various colours on the map. My learned friend never asked Mr Kanti what the colours mean.

PD: Coming back to the range, he was required to prove the range of the towers, did he do so?

PD: No, he failed miserably.

PD: He has placed contradictory evidence on the range of the towers before court.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: I will show you.

PD: Refers to court record.

PD: Shows there are three main types of towers, and that have 500m, 3.5km and then up to 33km.

PD: He should have asked, which towers on the maps have which range?

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Let me take you to Ms Du Plessis' evidence, she was with MTN and is now with cell C.

PD: again refers to the record.

PD: Average range of towers varies between 1 and 2km.

PD: So 500m, 3.5km and 33km, and she is now talking of 2km.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: How does one make a ruling on the range of towers.

PD: On the evidence before you, you don't know the range of towers.

PD: So my learned friend fails, because he can't show how close they were to a specific base station.

PD: He will refer you to the tower called Rockland Hatchery tower - PE MTN.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: It is one of the useless maps Mr Kanti produced.

PD: Your lordship will see that this tower is plotted in a rural area. It is near where the body was located.

PD: The difficulty is, that tower is in a rural area, so even if one is to accept Mr Kanti's evidence, the range of such a tower is up to 33km.

PD: So then, accused no 4 could be anywhere within a 33km radius.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Therefore that call, that connected to that tower, doesn't show anything, so that does not assist the case.

PD: In fact, we don't know what the range of that tower is, because no expert has come to testify what the range of that tower is.

PD: That is a further minimum requirement, that my learned friend should have submitted. He should have called an expert who could give that evidence.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Your lordship does not have to take judicial notice of that.

PD: That is why I did not challenge it, there was no need to, it simply doesn't take the State's case any further.

PD: My learned friend, called Ms Botha, she is some sort of expert in some field.

PD: As the press put it, she was called to connect the dots, she is an expert in connecting dots.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: The press is correct, she did come to connect the dots, but she never went beyond that.

PD: She is not an expert, she is not a police officer, she knows nothing about modus operandi of criminals.

PD: She is not a psychologist, she can't tell your lordship when people would reach out and connect.

PD: She made mention of scouting, but that is an opinion that she can't make.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: She said she told your lordship, the evidence before court was that accused number 4 was scouting in front of the deceased's residence.

PD: When I pointed out that the cellphone moved around, she conceded that she was wrong and agreed that there was no scouting on that day.

PD: refers to court record.

PD shows how Botha agreed with the fact that her opinion that accused number 4 was scouting on the 11th of April 2015 was incorrect.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-defence-to-begin-case-in-panayiotou-trial-20170629