/ 14 April 2008

Najwa trial: Court hears of request for hit man

A witness on Monday told the Cape High court that murder accused Najwa Petersen asked him to find someone to carry out a ”hit”.

Fahiem Hendricks, who is in witness protection, was testifying in the trial of Petersen and three alleged hit men who are charged with the murder of her entertainer husband, Taliep.

Hendricks, blinking constantly, told the court that he had known Najwa for over twenty years and their children went to the same Cape Town primary school.

Some time after the school closed for the December 2006 holidays, Najwa phoned and asked to meet him.

He went to the Petersens’ home in Athlone and sat with Najwa in her downstairs dining room.

”She asked me if I know someone who can do a hit,” he said.

Asked by prosecutor Shareen Riley what he understood by ”hit”, he replied: ”To kill somebody.”

His words caused a stir in the public gallery and Judge Siraj Desai warned that if onlookers were not quiet he would have no choice but to clear the gallery.

Hendricks told the court that he had told Najwa he did not know any such people and that he was ”not interested in such things”.

He left, but Najwa phoned him repeatedly, insisting he must get someone, and he said he would see what he could do.

He spoke to Abdoer Emjedi, accused number two in the case, who was staying with him at his home while going through a divorce, and asked if he knew anyone.

”He said yes, he will look if he can get someone”. — Sapa