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

[JudgeJudi]

PD: even if all my arguments are wrong up to now.

PD: Let's say they have proven the cell record, that the unconstitutionality is irrelevant, that he has proven the location of the cellphone towers.

PD: Even if he has done all that, he has still failed to make a case against my clients.

PD: People make calls to each other all the time.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: The State has shown no evidence relating to the relationship between Vumaznke and accused 3 and 4.

PD: Were they friends? Did they have family connections? Did they spend time together?

PD: That calls were made on certain dates around a certain time; is neither here nor there.

PD: Otherwise everyone who called Mr Vumazonke on a certain day should be arrested.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: My learned friend is going to say the calls and the vehicle movements will show how things played out.

PD: But that is merely a theory.

PD: It is pure speculation.

PD: The evidence doesn't place accused 3 or 4 in the vehicle.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Ms Botha said that the evidence doesn't show that they moved with Vumazonke in the car.

PD: Coming to the phone number used by accused 3, the evidence before your lordship is not in dispute.

PD: I objected to the admissibility of the records at the time and it was overruled, and what your lordship should have done is hold a trial within a trial relating to the admissibility of the evidence.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Be that as it may, I will accept that that was the cellphone number that accused 3 was using at that time.

PD: That doesn't matter, the State still hasn't made its case against him.In relation to accused 4, the case is different.

PD: The State has not proven that accused 4 (Sibeko) was using that number at that time.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: The evidence of w/o Shane Bosch and also the evidence of the RICA.

PD: The phone was never RICAed to accused 4.

PD: W/o Bosch told your lordship that simcards to which cell numbers are attached frequently change hands.

PD: That they can be aquired for as little as R5.

PD: And that criminals frequently change numbers.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: So what does w/o Bosch say, he say that in 2016 accused no 4 was in possession of that SIM card.

PD: The crime took place a year earlier, has he proven that he was in possession of that SIM card back then?

PD: Even if I am in acceptance of the State's evidence, there is no evidence to show that accused 4 was in posession of that SIM card.

PD: The State's entire case is based on his possession of that SIM card.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: That is the end of their case, it hasn't proven that he was in possession.

PD: To simply assume that the cellphone number is the same as a person. A cellphone number is not a person.

PD: That is the end of the State's case against accused number 4.

PD: I am going to go further that the State has even proven that accused number 4 was using the cellphone during 2016.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: W/o Bosch set a little trap.

PD: He was asked to find the details of the owener of the phone.

PD: He called, offered him a prize, he answers and gives his details as Zolani Sibeko and gives his address.

PD: The fact that someone gave his details as Zolani Sibeko does not mean it was Zolani Sibeko.

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

How ludicrous. Sibeko happens to answer a call and provides his name and address, and of all the names in the world he just so happens to choose the same name as his own together with the address where he was found. Then when Bosch rings his number, the light on the phone just happens to light up in the pocket of the gown the older woman was wearing.

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: That's not the end of his evidence. He says they went to the address in Greenbushes.

PD: they knocked on the door and this is what happened.

PD: They searched the premises and in the en-suite, they find Mr Sibeko.

PD: They asked him where's their phone and he says it's in the bedroom.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: explains how the phone was seized.

PD: That phone was not found in the possession of Mr Sibeko.

PD: Bosch said he never found another phone in the room, but he was never asked if he conducted a thorough search of the room.

PD: We can't assume that the phone he was referring to and the phone recovered were the same.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Why wasn't that woman called to give a statement?

PD: She may have come here and said that the phone was her phone. I don't know.

PD: Anyone could have said I am Zolani Sibeko.

PD: It is not for him to come and say that he wasn't using that number. No one has come to this court to say that he was using that number.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: He has no case to meet.

PD: You have no evidence regarding to their business, their personal affars, their acquaintances.

PD: I would submit that you are unable, that a reasonable man acting on the evidence before you, can say beyond doubt that they are guilty.

PD: There is no possibility a reasonable man, acting carefully, can convict accused 3 and 4.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

PD: Their names have hardly been mentioned in this trial.

PD: I have been sitting here twiddling my thumbs.

PD: I ask that the court dismiss the case against accused 3 and 4 under section 174.

PD: Completes his application.

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

 

[JudgeJudi]

Chetty asks Stander if he wishes to respond.

Stander says he will be responding but needs time to prepare his rebuttal.

Court adjourned to tomorrow 9:30.

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

 

[Tortoise]

we adjourn till tomorrow, which is also the last day this case is on the roll

https://twitter.com/alzammer

Thanks for the updates JudgeJudi!

 

[Interested Bystander]

JJ or Tortoise, I haven't caught up yet but have noticed the outcome of today. As tomorrow is the last day the case is on the roll, if they don't finish it tomorrow (and I am assuming they will not) what happens next please?

Many thanks for the updates JJ.

 

[Tortoise]

JJ or Tortoise, I haven't caught up yet but have noticed the outcome of today. As tomorrow is the last day the case is on the roll, if they don't finish it tomorrow (and I am assuming they will not) what happens next please?

Many thanks for the updates JJ.

I imagine it's the same as the van Breda case, they wait for the next available court dates. I can't think what else they could do.

 

[Interested Bystander]

I imagine it's the same as the van Breda case, they wait for the next available court dates. I can't think what else they could do.

Thank you Tortoise. The wording was different and I wondered if that indicated something different but it seems just another way of saying much the same thing.

 

[JudgeJudi]

It's my understanding that the court is about to go into the end of term recess which lasts about a month. Then we'll have to wait for available dates. Hopefully we will get them in one block, but this won't necessarily happen.

I'm beginning to wonder if CP will take the stand at all.