Najwa Petersen, on trial for the murder of her entertainer husband, Taliep, 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 shot dead.
She was in the dock with three co-accused and has pleaded not guilty to Taliep’s murder.
Najwa said that on the night in question she went to sleep in her bedroom — she and her husband slept apart — after taking medication. Before going to sleep, 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 after she fell asleep she was woken by an intruder wearing a balaclava, who demanded money at gunpoint. She took the intruder to the main bedroom where her husband slept and where a safe containing money was kept.
There she saw Taliep kneeling on the floor with blood coming from his nose or mouth.
There was a second intruder with Taliep, but Najwa said she could not remember if he was armed. In the main bedroom she handed the first intruder about R50 000 as well as R300 000-worth of dollars that were in the safe.
She said she was then locked in her own bedroom and, in a state of panic, telephoned her sister-in-law.
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.”
Acute security awareness
On Monday she 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.
Led by senior counsel Johan Engelbrecht, she said her relationship with Taliep had been good and he was aware of her dreams to visit Paris.
The topics covered during the Monday morning session of Najwa’s testimony included Taliep’s acute security awareness, and loans that she had given to a family friend, Fahiem Hendricks.
It is alleged that Peterson approached Hendricks to find hit men to shoot dead her husband.
Peterson 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, she said she was not, but that she and Taliep often lent money to people they knew and trusted.
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 she knew that he was struggling financially.
To assist him, she had given him four polished diamonds that she obtained in Namibia and asked him to sell them for her for R250 000. If he was able to do so, he could have a R10 000 cut, which would repay the loan, she told the court.
She 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.”
Although she trusted Hendricks, Taliep was not very happy about the fact that she had given him the diamonds, because Taliep did not know Hendricks that well. — Sapa