A magistrate had misdirected himself in finding that the ”exceptional circumstances” needed for Najwa Petersen to get bail did not exist, the Cape High Court was told on Friday.
Petersen, who was not in court, is appealing against last month’s decision by Wynberg regional magistrate Robert Henney to refuse her bail.
She was arrested on a charge of killing her husband, entertainer Taliep Petersen, in December last year.
Advocate Craig Webster told acting Judge John Whitehead that Petersen had a history of psychiatric problems and had been diagnosed with multiple chronic severe mental illnesses.
The magistrate had accepted this evidence at the bail hearing, and the state did not dispute it.
”It’s not gainsaid: it’s real, it’s significant,” Webster said.
”This history constitutes an exceptional circumstance.”
He also asked Whitehead to note that hospital services at Pollsmoor’s female prison, where Petersen is being kept, were reportedly chaotic, and that it was visited by a psychiatrist only once a month.
He said there was no evidence that Petersen’s release would endanger public safety, and if there was substance to claims she was a flight risk, this could be dealt with through appropriate bail conditions.
She had emotional, family and property ties to the Western Cape, and the fact that she had a Namibian bank account containing the ”princely sum” of R47,49 was no consequence.
The hearing continues. — Sapa