Murder suspect gave plagiarized eulogy at wife's funeral, report says
JOHANNESBURG - A South African man has been charged with his wife's murder, police said on Monday, days after local media reported that the touching eulogy he delivered at her funeral was plagiarized.
Schoolteacher Jayde Panayiotou, 28, was abducted in the street near her home on Apr. 21, police said. Her body was spotted by a police helicopter a day later. She had been shot to death.
Her husband, Chris Panayiotou, was arrested last week, following the arrest of another man also accused of the murder, said police spokeswoman Brig. Marinda Mills. A third man has also been arrested.
In the days before his arrest, photographs of his wedding to Jayde Panayiotou were published in local media, along with reports that he had cut and pasted his wife's eulogy from a tribute written by another man and seen online.
"Jayde is not gone; she is everywhere. Jayde resides in the wind like an elemental force," said Panayiotou at his wife's funeral, according to the South African website, News24. Christopher Panayiotou apparently substituted his late wife's name for Jennifer Atkins, in a tribute written by her husband Charles Atkins, dated October 2010.
Panayiotou appeared in court Monday in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth, wearing a black suit and shirt. His case has been postponed until June 19.