The fact that popular musician Taliep Petersen had lost R4-million given to him by his wife for business transactions, including a pyramid scheme, gave his wife, Najwa, a motive to murder him, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.
Petersen faced a day of intense cross-examination before Judge Siraj Desai and two assessors — first by the defence team representing two of her three co-accused, and then by prosecutor Shireen Riley.
She and her co-accused are charged with murder for the shooting of Taliep.
Her answers to questions fired at her by advocates Patrick Scott and Roelf Constable were mainly denials of her involvement in her husband’s murder, while her answers to Riley’s questions were mainly ”I can’t remember” or ”I don’t know.”
This prompted the judge to adjourn the proceedings an hour early on Wednesday, to enable her to rest and prepare to face Thursday’s questioning.
Constable, confronting her about a possible motive to kill her husband, reminded her of evidence that she had, before Taliep’s death, stabbed him in the marital bedroom.
She responded: ”I don’t dispute the stabbing, I admit it.”
Constable said to her: ”You also lost R4-million that you gave to him for business transactions, so there were reasons to kill him.”
She replied: ”He was busy making money at the time of his death.”
Asked if she was happy over the fact that she had lost so much money, she said she was not. Asked if she had been angry about it, she replied: ”Anyone would be angry.”
She said she and Taliep had a happy marriage. But asked why, if that were true, she had stabbed him, she said: ”I know I did it, but I don’t remember stabbing him.”
The judge asked her: ”So you stabbed him without reason?”
She said yes.
She said she was suffering from depression at the time she stabbed her husband. But asked what kind of depression, she said she did not know.
She said there was something wrong with her moods, but added: ”I had no particular reason for stabbing him.”
The hearing continues on Thursday. — Sapa