Najwa Petersen

Case record: Najwa Petersen

Background

Najwa Petersen was the wife of South African singer, composer and theatre director Taliep Petersen. Taliep Petersen had been born in the multi-cultural neighbourhood of Cape Town, District Six, and he had worked most notably with David Kramer, with whom he won an Olivier Award.

Taliep Petersen formed a band called Sapphyre in the 1980s, which played interpretations of traditional Cape Malay songs. In 1986 he and David Kramer collaborated on the first of a number of musicals together, District Six: The Musical, exploring the culture and history of the Coloured community in Cape Town. This was followed by Poison, Fairyland, Crooners, Kat and the Kings, Klop Klop and Spice Drum Beat: Ghoema. A number of these toured internationally; Kat and the Kings had runs in Las Vegas, New York's Broadway and in London's West End. Ghoema had opened in London's Tricycle Theatre shortly before Petersen's death.

In 1999 Petersen and Kramer won the Best New Musical Olivier Award for Kat and the Kings, with the cast sharing the Best Actor in a Musical award. In 2001 he presented a television series about District Six called O'se Distrik Ses, and he had featured on South Africa reality talent shows including Idols and Joltyd. In 2002, he created a sitcom called Alie Barber. In 2005, a second season of Alie Barber was shown and Petersen released songs from the series on the 2006 album Deur Dik en Dun, his first in Afrikaans.

Taliep Petersen was a practising Muslim. He was twice married and fathered six children. He was shot dead at his home on 16 December 2006.

Ebrahim Rasool, premier of the Western Cape, praised Petersen’s ability to:

“capture our entire history, express our deepest pain, articulate our joy, and demonstrate our humanity through music and drama.”

Najwa Petersen was arrested at the family home on 18 June 2007 in connection with the murder. She was charged with his “planned and/or premeditated” murder together with three men.

The offence

Taliep Petersen was shot dead at his home on 16 December 2006. Najwa Petersen stood trial in the Cape High Court for the murder.

The case involved an execution-style shooting in the couple’s Athlone, Cape Town, home. The state alleged that Najwa hired hitmen to carry out the killing and that a robbery was staged to cover the true motive.

Investigation

Inspector Brian Hermanus of the Athlone police testified that when he arrived at the Grasmere Street home he saw Taliep’s body lying at the top of a flight of stairs, with his bloody head covered with a towel. He found Najwa and her daughter Zainub, then about eight years old, in a bedroom. Hermanus said Najwa was sitting on a bed crying and appeared confused.

Hermanus testified that Najwa told him she had heard the bell of the security gate on the property’s front entrance ringing and assumed that Taliep had pressed the button to open it. She told Hermanus that soon afterwards a man wearing a balaclava and gloves had come into her bedroom, taken her to Taliep’s bedroom, and demanded money, which she gave him from the safe in the room.

When Hermanus asked where Taliep had been while this was happening, Hermanus said Najwa initially could not answer him. He said she was sobbing so much he had to give her breaks to calm down. Hermanus testified that he asked how many suspects there had been, and that she said again that one man had entered her room though later said there had been “one or two”.

Hermanus testified that he asked again where the deceased had been and that she replied that they were “busy” with him. Hermanus testified that she “just said, repeatedly, that they were busy with him and she started sobbing again.”

Hermanus testified that he then spoke to Najwa’s adult son from a previous marriage, Achmat Gamieldien, who lived in the house with his wife and baby daughter. Hermanus said Gamieldien told him he had been woken by a man wearing gloves and a balaclava, holding a gun in his right hand. Hermanus testified that Gamieldien told him that Najwa was standing beside the man, that the man demanded money, and that he took about R1 500 from his jeans, cellphones, watches and a digital camera before leaving with Najwa and locking them in the room.

Hermanus testified that he then asked where Zainub had been during the ordeal. He testified that she initially told him Zainub had been in her bedroom when the suspect entered, then changed her mind and said he had been in Taliep’s bedroom.

Hermanus testified that her state appeared to him to be no different from that of any other house-robbery victim he had interviewed. He said:

“At that moment it appeared it was a genuine house robbery. But later that same morning I began to have reservations about what had happened,”

Hermanus testified that he said his reservations arose because:

“Because of what accused number one [Najwa] told me on the crime scene… the fact that no one else had heard the doorbell ringing. “The fact that she was not sure in which bedroom her daughter had been when the suspect entered her bedroom, the fact that she could not specify [anything] when she told me that they were ‘busy’ with him, and that she was not sure how many suspects there had been. And the fact that ... she had accompanied the suspect to her son’s room.”

Hermanus testified that when asked why this should be suspicious he said it was a “gut feeling” and added:

“The impression I formed [was] that it might have been to protect her son.”

Hermanus testified that he had been asked about his statement by prosecutor Susan Galloway and he said:

“People get Oscars for acting. I could not say she was acting at that time.”

Earlier, the state claimed the robbery was staged to cover the killers’ true motive—to shoot Taliep.

Arrest

She was arrested together with three men and charged with his “planned and/or premeditated” murder.

Trial

Plea and court appearances

On 8 April 2008, Najwa Petersen pleaded not guilty to the murder of her entertainer husband, Taliep. She pleaded not guilty before red-robed Judge Siraj Desai and two assessors.

Taliep was shot in the couple’s Athlone, Cape Town, home in December 2006. Najwa stood trial in the Cape High Court along with three men the state claimed she hired to carry out the killing.

Lead prosecutor Shareen Riley read out allegations against Najwa and her co-accused. Before Riley called the first witness, she asked Desai to provisionally admit hearsay evidence related to the motive for the killing. Riley said she wanted to lead testimony from witnesses who had had conversations with Taliep before his death on the state of his marriage, the handling of financial affairs and “the reason he wanted a divorce from the accused”. Desai granted the application over an objection from Petersen’s counsel, Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau, that it would be “severely prejudicial” to Petersen.

Earlier on the Wednesday, Desai rejected a bid by Von Lieres for an order that the state give the defence more detailed particulars on its case against Petersen. Desai said:

“In my view the accused has been furnished with sufficient particularity of the charges she faces in this court,”

On 10 April 2008, a detective testified that he became suspicious of Najwa Petersen after hearing her sobbing account on the night of her husband’s Taliep’s death.

On-site inspection

Earlier on Thursday, Judge Siraj Desai, his two assessors, the four accused and their legal teams visited the Grasmere Street home for an on-site inspection. Najwa and her co-accused were in ankle shackles. Najwa was able to hug her daughter Zainub.

The other accused were Abdoer Emjedi, Waheed Hassen and Jefferson Snyders.

Witness account of the events (Najwa’s testimony)

Najwa told the Cape High Court on 29 July 2008 how an intruder put a gun to her head and demanded money on the night her husband was killed. She was in the dock with three co-accused and had pleaded not guilty to Taliep’s murder.

Najwa told the court she went to sleep in her bedroom—she and her husband slept apart—after taking medication. Before going to sleep, she said she phoned a friend who had sold diamonds for her to ask if he had received the money from the diamond sales. She told the court:

“He said he had received the money, and that he was on his way to me with it.”

Najwa said that after she fell asleep she was woken by an intruder wearing a balaclava, who demanded money at gunpoint. She said she took the intruder to the main bedroom where her husband slept and where a safe containing money was kept. She said she saw Taliep kneeling on the floor with blood coming from his nose or mouth. She said there was a second intruder with Taliep, but she could not remember if he was armed.

Najwa told the court she handed the first intruder about R50 000 and R300 000-worth of dollars that were in the safe. She said she was then locked in her own bedroom and telephoned her sister-in-law in a state of panic. She told the court:

“I told my sister-in-law that we had been robbed, and as I spoke to her I heard a shot go off. I started to scream to my son and his wife as well as to Taliep, asking if they were okay, but only my son responded. Taliep did not answer.”

Cross-examination and denials

On 30 July 2008 it was heard in court that Najwa Petersen herself fired the shot that killed her husband Taliep Petersen.

Advocate Patrick Scott, representing Hassan, told the court:

“You are the person who then grabbed the gun from [co-accused Waheed] Hassan and pulled the trigger. After you had pulled the trigger Hassan took the gun, dropped the cushion and left your home,”

The report said Petersen said this was not true and that the allegation emerged when Petersen was cross-examined by two members of the defence team representing two of her three co-accused.

Scott told Petersen that she was in fact present during the shooting and not locked in a bedroom as she claimed. Petersen replied:

“I was not present at the shooting.”

Scott told her:

“My instructions are that you and Hassan were alone with the deceased before the shooting, and that co-accused Jefferson Snyders, who had also been there, had left the Petersen house for home.”

Petersen said this was not true.

Scott continued:

“At that stage Hassan held the gun in a cushion but said he was not prepared to go any further, that you insisted that your husband be shot dead.”

Najwa denied Scott’s version again.

Najwa was also questioned by advocate Roelf Constable for Snyders. According to Snyders, he had told Hassan in the Petersen home that he wanted nothing to do with the murder and had tried to persuade Hassan to leave Taliep alone. Snyders said he told Hassan:

“You can see that the people [Taliep and Najwa] have problems with each other.”

Petersen said she had not heard this as she had not been present.

Constable continued:

“When Snyders got to the car outside he heard what sounded like a shot being fired.”

Petersen replied:

“I deny that I was involved at all, I was upstairs locked in a bedroom."

I had a gun put to my head, Najwa tells court Najwa Petersen told the Cape High Court on Tuesday how an intruder put a gun to her head and demanded money on the night her husband was killed.

Marriage and financial issues during testimony

On Monday, Najwa told the court she controlled the finances and had a monthly income of R100 000 as a director of the family business in Namibia, Dirk Fruit and Vegetables.

Najwa testified that her relationship with Taliep had been good and that he was aware of her dreams to visit Paris.

The topics covered during the morning session of Najwa’s testimony included Taliep’s acute security awareness and loans that Najwa had given to a family friend, Fahiem Hendricks.

It was alleged that Peterson approached Hendricks to find hit men to shoot dead her husband. Petersen told the court she lent Hendricks two amounts of R20 000, which he repaid, and a third sum of R10 000.

Asked by the judge if she was in a money-lending business, Petersen said she was not. She said she and Taliep often lent money to people they knew and trusted.

Najwa told the court that the purpose of the R10 000 loan was to help Hendricks buy stock for a cafe he had bought. She said he was often late with his repayments but that she knew he was struggling financially.

Najwa testified that to assist him she had given him four polished diamonds that she obtained in Namibia and asked him to sell them for R250 000. If he was able to do so, he could have a R10 000 cut to repay the loan, she told the court.

Najwa added:

“I also had American dollars in the safe at home and I told Hendricks if he could sell the diamonds, I would also give him the dollars to sell.”

She testified that although she trusted Hendricks, Taliep was not very happy about the diamonds because Taliep did not know Hendricks that well.

Najwa testified on 28 July 2008 that Taliep had planned to take her on holiday to London and Paris, and that she was on trial before Judge Siraj Desai charged with Taliep’s murder. People crammed into the courtroom to hear her testify in her own defence.

She also said she controlled the finances and had a monthly income of R100 000 as a director of the family business in Namibia—Dirk Fruit and Vegetables. The report said she wore dark glasses in court.

Other court description

The report described Najwa appearing in court every day wearing a colour-coordinated suit, matching scarf and hennaed fingernails. It stated she ordered 30 new outfits for the trial and allegedly underwent liposuction and had a breast enlargement operation barely a month after Petersen’s death. Friends and relatives of Petersen said outside court:

“She’s now a 36DD!”

Sentencing

Judge Siraj Desai postponed sentencing procedures to 4 February 2009 after the 2 December 2008 guilty verdicts.

On February 10, 2009, Najwa Petersen was sentenced to 28 years in prison.

The sentencing included that life imprisonment comprises 25 years, with no remission of sentence, meaning the sentenced person has to serve the entire 25 years. In Petersen’s case, although she was given 28 years, she qualified for parole, meaning she would serve less than 28 years.

Judge Siraj Desai said the murder was callous and that she had played an active role in it. Desai said the murder was planned in fine detail, including staging a fake robbery in which she was the victim to give her hitmen access to the Petersen home. Desai said Taliep was murdered in a savage manner in his own home. Desai said Petersen had “doggedly persisted” in securing the death of her husband.

Sentencing for co-accused was reported as follows:

• Abdoer Emjedi was jailed for 24 years.
• Waheed Hassen was jailed for 25 years.
• Jefferson Snyders was found guilty only of robbery and was effectively jailed for seven years.

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Outcome

On 2 December 2008 Najwa Petersen and two of her co-accused were found guilty of the December 2006 murder of her entertainer husband, Taliep. The ruling was handed down by Judge Siraj Desai in the Cape High Court shortly after noon on Tuesday.

Desai said Najwa had been an appalling witness and her testimony had been neither logical nor consistent. He said:

“It festers with lies,”

Desai found Najwa, Abdoer Emjedi and Waheed Hassen guilty of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. Hassen was found guilty on firearm and ammunition charges.

The fourth accused, Jefferson Snyders, was found not guilty of murder but convicted on one count of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

The report described Najwa’s version of events as that violent robbers had entered the couple’s home and that she, Taliep and her son and daughter-in-law were victims of the robbery. Desai said the robber who woke her up did not search her or take her cellphone, which he said created the impression the robber knew he was supposed to accompany her to another room and get money from a safe.

Desai said Najwa led the robber to her son’s bedroom in a way more consistent with an arranged attack than a real robbery. Desai said there appeared to be no robbery-related reason for Taliep’s killing because when the fatal shot was fired, Najwa, her son and daughter-in-law were locked up in bedrooms, and Taliep was lying bound on the floor.

Desai said Najwa had speculated that Taliep might have seen the face of one of the two men, but on her evidence both men had been wearing balaclavas, so it was “hardly likely.” The judge also said the first robber had locked Najwa in a bedroom while a Telkom phone was visible on a pedestal next to the bed, and that Najwa could have used either the phone or her cellphone to call the police. Desai said this was not something an intelligent robber would have done unless he knew the victim was cooperating.

Aftermath

The report stated Najwa escaped a sentence of life imprisonment for Taliep’s murder but was effectively jailed for 28 years. It also stated that the statement on life imprisonment meant she would qualify for parole and serve less than 28 years.