Christopher Panayiotou’s legal team poked holes in the state’s case on Tuesday‚ accusing the police of underhanded tactics and the prosecution of misleading the court.

It also questioned the admissibility of the state’s key witness’s confession.

The businessman‚ 30‚ the alleged mastermind behind the murder of his wife‚ Uitenhage school teacher Jayde Panayiotou‚ 29‚ in April last year‚ is trying for a third time to be released on bail‚ this time based on new facts.

Christopher Panayiotou in court

State advocate Marius Stander has not yet responded to the allegations.

He said he would first argue that the defence had failed to present any new facts to magistrate Abigail Beeton‚ who denied bail to Panayiotou in June.

Advocate Terry Price SC said he would set out to prove a “powerful and corroborated case of behaviour by the prosecution and the police which undermined every basic principle of [Panayiotou’s] right to a fair trial”.

He said they had shown a complete lack of respect for the law of the country and its constitution.

It is alleged Panayiotou paid middleman Luthando Siyoni to hire hit men Sizwezakhe Vumazonke and Sinethemba Nemembe to kidnap and kill the Riebeek College teacher.

He said in his affidavit‚ read out to the court by Price on Tuesday: “At the time of my bail application‚ I was forced to rely on the state’s contention that it had a strong case since I had no access to the police docket.

“Now that I have been given access to a large portion of the docket‚ I have discovered that the state’s case is certainly not as strong as they allege and…that the state misled the court during the previous bail application.”

Panayiotou also contended that:

– Stander misled the court by claiming Panayiotou’s mistress‚ Chanelle Coutts‚ and her best friend‚ Clarishka Kapp‚ had implicated him in their statements;

– Investigating officer Lieutenant Kanna Swanepoel continued to harass Coutts and Kapp for more information and threatened them with arrest should they not implicate Panayiotou;

– It had emerged that the man who visited him in prison after his arrest‚ offering to “assist” with his case by causing the docket to disappear‚ was a police informant;

– Swanepoel had falsely claimed that Panayiotou’s father‚ Constiantinos‚ had threatened to disinherit Panayiotou should he divorce Jayde; and

– There was no evidence supporting allegations that Jayde had been spending too much money.

Price said that‚ during the previous bail application‚ Stander had told the court that Coutts and Kapp had unequivocally implicated Panayiotou in their statements.

Nomgcobo Jiba

The Western Cape High Court on Monday dismissed an application by the Democratic Alliance (DA) asking the court to force President Jacob Zuma to suspend Deputy National Prosecuting Authority head‚ advocate Nomgcobo Jiba.

Jiba was harshly criticised by the Supreme Court of Appeal in cases related to the so called Spy Tapes.

The DA claimed that she was protecting people close to Zuma.

No reasons were given for the ruling. The judgment will be released during the course of the day.

The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) has failed in its legal bid to prevent Knysna Elephant Park (KEP) co-founder Lisette Withers from keeping elephants.

The KEP, home to some nine elephants, became embroiled in a three-year long court case when the NSPCA took on Withers over the transport of four elephant calves from Sandhurst Safaris in Toska in the North West province to Withers’ Elephants of Eden in the Eastern Cape.

The NSPCA has lost a case against elephant sanctuary 

The NSPCA – which has declared itself “vehemently opposed” to the practice of taking elephant calves from the wild to be placed in lifelong captivity – challenged the transport permit in court.

KEP previously denied allegations it “abducted” the elephants from the wild with the intent of placing them in captivity for its own benefit.

It said it had been told the orphaned elephants would be shot if they had not agreed to take them in.

“In no way was KEP ever involved in any decision to cull the mothers and leave the orphans behind,” it said.

But the NSPCA alleges the operation was flawed from the start and had issued proceedings out of the Grahamstown High Court against Withers, as well as Elephants of Eden – which no longer exists – and the Eastern Cape department of environmental affairs which issued the permit.

It wanted the permit to be set
aside.

But the calves were subsequently moved to the Eastern Cape in March 2013 and to the KEP in the Western Cape a year later, where they have lived since.

Withers immediately sought to amend their court papers, claiming that the relief sought by the NSPCA was moot because the elephants were now in the Western Cape, meaning the Grahamstown High Court no longer had jurisdiction.

The NSPCA, in turn, sought to amend their papers to a broader interdict preventing Withers from keeping the four elephants or any other elephant in her control irrespective or where they were kept.

But Judge Mandela Makaula said the effect would be to prohibit them from keeping any elephants despite the fact that the NSPCA had not made any allegations about the adequacy of the facilities at the KEP.

“The [NSPCA] did not plead facts to support the allegations that [Withers or Elephants of Eden] – assuming they have control over the calves or other elephants at Knysna Elephant Park or anywhere in South Africa – ill treat and/or confine the calves or elephants.”

Judge Makaula said without evidence on how the calves were kept at Knysna Elephant Park, or whether Withers was even in control of elephants there, he could not conclude that the keeping of the elephants there was unlawful.

During the course of the case, Makaula was asked to decide five interlocutory applications. He found against the NSPCA in each one and ordered the organisation to foot the legal bill.

KEP staff said Withers was not immediately available for comment as she was en route back from Mozambique.

Neither NSPCA wildlife protection’s Isabel Wentzel nor special investigations head Wendy Willson said they had seen the judgment.

A man who has been involved in criminal activities since 1999 asked the East London Regional Court for a second chance after he defrauded a Gonubie garage of 4000 litres of diesel. 

Last year Jacques Greyling, 44, sought to acquire 8000 litres of diesel from Meisies Halt Fuels in Gonubie, but was told they did not sell on credit.

JACQUES GREYLING

He then sent the business an e-mail with a fraudulent proof of payment to show he had paid R84800 into their account. He later sent a truck to collect 4000 litres of diesel worth R42000, which was supplied.

The company later checked its bank account and discovered the money had not been paid into their account. A case was then opened.

Last month magistrate Twanet Olivier found Greyling guilty after he had pleaded guilty.

In mitigation of sentence yesterday, Greyling asked Olivier to give him a second chance and not sentence him to direct imprisonment so that he could pay back the money.

He said he was owed money by radio stations he had done work for and between three radio stations he was owed more than R45000 and would use that money to pay Meisies Halt Fuels back.

He said he did information technology work including voice-overs for radio stations.

He was led by his attorney, Siviwe Nxadi. “I plan to pay the money back from the monies owed to me.

“My top priority is to pay back the money because they are good people. I can say without a reasonable doubt that I can pay that R42000 within six months,” Greyling said.

Under cross-examination by state advocate Luthando Makoyi, Greyling admitted he had been involved in crime since 1999 but said he had changed.

Greyling will be sentenced on May 31.

South Africa has charged the Chinese skippers with fishing in SA waters with no permission and evading the  law.

Dianxin Jiang, 57, skipper of hi-tech fishing vessel Fu Yuan Yu 7880, Baohua Qi, 40, skipper of Fu Yuang Yu 7881 and Jianbo Yu, 46, skipper of Run Da 617, appeared in district magistrate Robyn Tyler’s A Court in East London.

Crew of the Chinese trawlers appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court Picture: STEPHANIE LLOYD

They face three charges of possessing fishing product and equipment without a permit, failing to obey an order from fisheries officers to stop their vessels, and possessing fishing gear in South Africa’s exclusive economic zone without a permit.

They did not plead and  Tyler released them on condition that they do not leave their vessels, which are berthed in East London’s port.

If they had to leave this had to be with permission from the Hawks, who yesterday took over the case from a range of government departments.

The accused, who appeared in casual clothes, looked slightly bewildered and, when asked by their attorney, well-known East London resident, Peter Allam, if the court session could be video’d, said they had no objection.

The charges, conditions of release, and their next court appearance were carefully explained to each skipper by an interpreter speaking Mandarin under the instruction of the magistrate.

The chairwoman of the East London Chinese Association, Lequin Zhu, who was in the gallery with a friend, said the local Chinese community was there to provide interpretation and communication.

“They do not speak English at all,” she said.

A 33-year-old father will appear in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for stabbing his own children to death.

A 33-year-old father will appear in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday for stabbing his own children to death

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Shooz Magudulela said the man found the children‚ aged six and four‚ sleeping when he arrived at his ex-girlfriend’s home in the Gudlintaba area of St Chads on Monday evening.

The children’s mother and grandmother hid when the man arrived at the house.

“He stabbed the kids on the neck and stomach before fleeing the scene‚” Magudulela said.

The suspect was arrested in the Ladysmith city centre on Tuesday.

KwaZulu-Natal acting provincial commissioner Major-General Bhekinkosi Langa commended Ladysmith police for the swift arrest.

“It is sad that people who are expected to protect and love their children are the ones charged with murder. We are pleased that the suspect was arrested and will face the law‚ we hope that justice will prevail and the children’s hope brought back especially during this Youth Month as the suspect destroyed the future of this country ” he said.

A lucrative  slice of R128.7-billion in social grants is at stake as the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) prepares to oppose attempts to stall measures that will prohibit some of these deductions. 

Net 1 UEPS‚ which distributes social grants on behalf of the agency through its subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services‚ said at the weekend that it had filed papers with the High Court in Pretoria to obtain a declaratory order on the interpretation of the Social Assistance Act‚ which regulates the disbursement of social grants. Sassa is set to oppose the move.

AT WAR: Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini plans to introduce regulations barring deductions from grants Picture: GALLO IMAGES

“We will file our notice of intention to oppose this week‚ and our answering affidavit by … June 20 as prescribed‚” Sassa spokesman Kgomoco Diseko said on Monday.

The Net 1 court application comes after Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini recently announced plans to introduce regulations barring funeral policy deductions from children’s grants.

The Treasury said the grants would cost R55.4-billion for 12.7-million beneficiaries this year.

Net 1 spokesman Dhruv Chopra failed to respond to questions.

Dlamini’s planned changes also include limiting the number of deductions on other types of grants such as those for old age and disability – collectively worth R72.4-billion – to just one‚ which will be capped at 10% of the total value of the grant.

Lion of Africa’s life insurance arm gave up its fight to stop these plans at the Constitutional Court last month‚ agreeing not to enforce an order obtained in a lower court to impose a moratorium on Dlamini’s plans regarding funeral policies.

The plans will chip away directly at Net 1’s revenue-generation strategy.

In a report to shareholders last year‚ Net 1 chief executive Serge Belamant said Umoya Manje‚ a new product it had developed for its South African customer base‚ while relatively small‚ was expected to contribute to “substantial income streams” over time.

Umoya Manje allows customers to buy airtime or hybrid contracts using a mobile wallet. These were paid for by debit deductions. “The company … is of the opinion that the legislature did not intend to curtail the right of beneficiaries to transact freely once the money was deposited into their bank accounts‚” Net 1 said on Friday.

It also said grant beneficiaries would be forced to make payments for insurance premiums‚ loans‚ cellphone contracts and other financial transactions in cash.

But Diseko said Sassa had a solid case.

The deductions have precipitated a deluge of complaints. About 13000 disputes were recorded last year‚ while in February‚ Sassa received more than 46000 queries.

Ghaleb Cachalia‚ the DA’s mayoral candidate for Ekurhuleni in Gauteng‚ queued with grant recipients in Tsakane days before Net 1 filed its papers. Many had started queuing at 1am‚ saying they would rather have cash before deductions were made on their Sassa cards.

“When they have queries what the amounts are for‚ they can’t get an answer from Sassa‚ so they prefer to draw their grants in cash‚” he said.

Sassa has decided to bring the grant payment system in-house from next year‚ when the contract with Cash Paymaster Services expires.

The Constitutional Court ruled in 2014 that the contract was invalid‚ but said it should continue until a new contract was awarded.

Sassa decided last October not to award a new contract.

President Jacob Zuma announced the appointment of several new judges to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein and various high courts across the country on Wednesday‚ on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission. 

President Jacob Zuma announced the appointment of several new judges to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein and various high courts across the country on Wednesday‚ on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission.

The new judges – whose effective date of appointment is July 1‚ and who all are filling existing vacancies — are:

– Justice Baratang Constance Mocumie as a Judge of the SCA;

– Justice Christiaan Hendrik Gert van der Merwe as a Judge of the SCA;

– Justice Mjabuliseni Isaac Madondo as Deputy Judge President of the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court‚ Pietermaritzburg;

– Justice Fikile Eunice Mokgohloa as Deputy Judge President of the Limpopo Division of the High Court‚ Polokwane;

– Justice Patricia Lynette Goliath as Deputy Judge President of the Western Cape Division of the High Court‚ Cape Town;

– Advocate Richard William Neville Brooks SC as a Judge of the Eastern Cape Local Division of the High Court‚ Mthatha;

– Advocate Pieter Cornelius Bezuidenhout as a Judge of the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court‚ Pietermaritzburg;

– Mokgere Busisiwe Shareen Masipa as a Judge of the KwaZulu-Natal Local Division of the High Court‚ Durban;

– Advocate Gerrit Cornelius Muller SC as a Judge of the Limpopo Division of the High Court‚ Polokwane;

– Moletje George Phatudi as a Judge of the Limpopo Division of the High Court‚ Polokwane; and

– Lister Gcinikaya Nuku as a Judge of the Western Cape Division of the High Court‚ Cape Town.

Three years after Oscar Pistorius killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, he will finally learn his fate.

Sentencing begins this week in the Pretoria High Court after the Blade Runner’s conviction was changed by the Supreme Court of Appeal from culpable homicide to murder.

Supporters of Oscar Pistorius gather outside the North Gauteng Court. Picture: Roxanne Henderson

Wits University law professor Stephen Tuson said the sentencing by trial judge Thokozile Masipa would not differ much from the trial and that the defence will have an opportunity to argue for a lighter sentence.

“The court will be applying its mind to the conviction of murder and not culpable homicide,” he said.

Steenkamp’s father Barry Steenkamp, who was too ill to attend the trial, will be at the sentencing.

Said Tuson: “It is no doubt the prosecution that has called Reeva’s father [to testify on behalf] of the state in aggravation of sentence.

“This is where the family or victim would testify how [the] crime has impacted his life. He is likely to testify how her death has affected his and his wife’ s lives – psychologically, emotionally, and give the court a sense of the seriousness because of the impact the crime has had on the family.”

He said precedents from past cases will be used to argue the sentencing.

Attorney Mannie Witz said that in sentencing the defence gets to call expert witnesses first and speculated it would call a social worker or correctional officer to show how the year has affected Pistorius and his state of mind.

Because the sentencing is for murder for a first offender, Pistorius will serve the minimum of 15 years or maximum of 20, although there are factors that could add to the sentence.

“They would have to take into account the year he’s already sat,” he said.

A white woman who claimed to have given birth to a black child will stand trial in the Vereeniging Magistrate’s Court later this year.

The fraud case against the woman was postponed on Monday because magistrate Chris Kruger was not feeling well.

A white woman will appear in court on a fraud charge after claiming to have given birth to a black baby

The woman‚ who cannot be named to protect the identity of the now nine-year-old boy‚ is facing charges of fraud after she allegedly lied in documents at Home Affairs when she registered the child’s birth.

Two mothers‚ including the white woman from Vereeniging‚ south of Johannesburg and her former Zimbabwean domestic worker‚ are fighting over the child.

The Zimbabwean woman claims she gave birth to the child at Tembisa Hospital in Ekurhuleni on February 13 2007.

She said the battle over the child began when she stopped working for the couple in 2009. She said her former employers took the child from a day care centre on June 25 2010.

The white couple allegedly lied under oath and registered the child as their biological son.

They allegedly then took the matter further and applied for the adoption of the child when they realised that their former employee was fighting to get her son back.

In a late registration of birth affidavit signed by the white woman‚ she claimed the boy was born on September 13 2007 at Tembisa Hospital.

The couple approached Home Affairs in Vereeniging on February 19 2009 to acquire a birth certificate for the child.

However‚ police said they could not find any records of the white woman giving birth at the hospital.

Police are also investigating how home affairs issued a birth certificate to the white couple.

The trial will start in November. — TMG Digital/Sowetan

Three men arrested in Grahamstown for alleged rhino poaching hours after an animal was killed on a nearby game reserve on Friday will have to wait a month before applying for bail. George game ranger Forget Ndlovu, 40, and Port Elizabeth-based Jabulani Ndlovu, 38, and Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, 37, (they are not related) were allegedly arrested

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By ERNEST MABUZA Paralympian and double-amputee Oscar Pistorius arrived in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday morning to hear his new sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013. Pistorius‚ accompanied by four policemen‚ arrived at 9.02‚ just less than 30 minutes before Judge Thokozile Masipa was due to start sentencing

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By LULAMILE FENI The wheels of justice temporarily stopped turning in Mqanduli after the magistrate’s court went up in flames. Residents who travelled from various villages serviced by the court, were shocked to find the courtrooms had burnt down. One of the people was a man who has been coming to the court since March

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Two years after a Mdantsane magistrate died from lung-related illnesses caused by a pigeon infestation in the court’s roof, the government has renovated the building at a cost of R35-million. Yesterday Public Works Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin officially handed over the renovated building to the Department of Justice. The renovations started in 2014 a few

The post Deadly Mdantsane courts revamped at cost of R35m appeared first on DispatchLIVE.

Vicki Momberg‚ the Durban woman whose k-word tirade directed at a traffic officer was caught on a cellphone recording‚ tried to stop the media from recording court proceedings‚ claiming it prejudiced her. Magistrate Penny Viljoen said on Thursday she would allow the capturing of still and video images before and after court proceedings‚ but not

The post Woman who called traffic cop the k-word was ‘traumatised and snapped’: lawyer appeared first on DispatchLIVE.

Six months after former boxing champion Thabo Sonjica, 27, was convicted of rape, he appears to be using delaying tactics to fend off his sentencing. Sonjica has dismissed his defence attorney and hired two more in a row which has had the effect of delaying sentencing. Sonjica was convicted on November 6 last year by

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A police officer has appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court in connection with the theft of a motor vehicle.  Constable Simnikiwe Ncwanwya, 37, was arrested on Tuesday after he allegedly took a car from a man in the Quigney on Thursday and the car was found abandoned in NU 2 in Mdantsane. The car

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  The state opposed bail against a Potsdam couple charged with the murder of five-year-old Kungawo Mabusela, whose body was discovered in a shallow grave on Wednesday. Prosecutor Ursula Campbell told presiding magistrate Joel Ceaser that Siphelo Melfin, 31, and Nosikhumbuzo Mabusela, 27, were facing serious charges. The two were appearing in the Mdantsane Magistrate’s

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Police have called on commuters who were robbed by a woman pretending to offer lifts, to come forward with information. The woman appears to have used a car which belongs to her mother, according to a reliable source. This week police from the railways rapid response unit arrested a 28-year-old woman sitting behind the wheel

The post Police seek victims of con-woman appeared first on DispatchLIVE.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation has effectively been barred by the High Court in Pretoria from enforcing its policy of not screening images of violent protests in South Africa. The state broadcaster‚ widely condemned for its controversial editorial policy‚ was taken to court by the Helen Suzman Foundation. The foundation and SABC reached a settlement

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