Najwa Petersen stabbed her husband, Taliep, in the neck the day after she was discharged from psychiatric treatment, the Wynberg Regional Court heard on Tuesday.
Najwa, who is appearing with Abdoer Emjedi, Waheed Hassen and Jefferson Snyders in connection with Taliep’s murder in December last year, is seeking bail.
Prosecutor Shireen Riley told the court the state would lead evidence that Najwa was booked into the Gatesville medical clinic in Cape Town from April 9 to 13 last year.
After being discharged, she stabbed Taliep in the neck.
Taliep was rushed to Gatesville for treatment while she was booked into the Crescent psychiatric clinic in Kenilworth the following day.
Meanwhile, Najwa was a suicide risk and Pollsmoor Prison would be a totally unsuitable environment for her, the court heard.
Najwa’s legal team is trying to show that she is not in a fit mental state to remain in custody.
Psychiatrist Dr Barry Fortuin, testifying in support of Najwa’s bail application, said she had tried to commit suicide several times during the three-year period to May last year that she had been his patient.
One of these attempts resulted in her admission to Groote Schuur hospital where she had to be resuscitated.
Najwa’s advocate, Craig Webster, handed the court a newspaper story detailing a visit to Pollsmoor by members of Parliament’s correctional services portfolio committee.
The article said there was a severe shortage of medical and other professional staff at the prison hospital, and that a psychiatrist evaluated patients only once a month.
Fortuin told the court this accorded with his own experience of Pollsmoor, and said psychiatric patients needed specialised and regular care.
”This kind of environment is completely unacceptable for a mentally ill patient,” he said.
Najwa’s medication had to be regularly monitored.
He said he had diagnosed her as suffering from chronic severe major depressive disorder with psychotic features, and that despite treatment, she suffered recurrent relapses.
It had been scientifically shown that a patient got worse after each relapse.
If she was in prison she would relapse more frequently and her condition would worsen.
The prospect of suicide attempts would be much higher in a prison environment.
‘Very strong case’
Last month it was reported that Najwa had received electric shock therapy before Taliep’s murder last year and could relapse into psychosis if she remained in custody.
She appeared last month along with three men in a courtroom packed to capacity with relatives and curious onlookers.
The men, Abdoer Emjedi, Waheed Hassen and Jefferson Snyders, sat throughout the entire proceedings with their faces covered and only their eyes showing as they were still have to appear in identity parades.
Investigating officer Captain Joe Dryden told the court that two of the men — he did not say which — had signed confessions that directly linked Najwa to the planning of the murder.
It was understood that at least one of the men may turn state witness.
”At this stage there is a very strong case against accused one [Najwa],” Dryden said.
A row of plainclothes police formed a protective cordon between the public gallery and the accused.
According to the prosecution, all four were to be charged with a ”planned and/or premeditated” murder, committed ”by a person, group of persons, [or] syndicate acting in the execution or furtherance of a common purpose or conspiracy”.
They will also be charged with armed robbery.
Taliep, best known for musicals evoking the spirit of Cape Town’s District Six, was shot dead on December 16 in the living room of his Athlone home after being bound with cable ties. — Sapa