A co-accused in the Najwa Petersen murder trial in the Cape High Court was on Friday questioned about an incident during an adjournment, when Petersen allegedly asked him to ”talk her out of the case”.
Co-accused Waheed Hassan was asked about this in cross-examination by Petersen’s senior counsel, Johan Engelbrecht.
Petersen and her three co-accused, Abdoer Emjedi, Hassen and Jefferson Snyders, have pleaded not guilty to charges of the murder of Najwa’s husband, Taliep, and aggravated armed robbery before Judge Siraj Desai and assessors.
Hassan told the court the incident involving Petersen’s request to him had happened as they were all led down the steep steps in the courtroom to the holding cells below, during an adjournment, while he was still giving his main testimony to the court.
He said Petersen was at the bottom of the steps, against the door to the cells.
He said she had wept as she asked him to ”talk her out of the case”.
By this, he said, he had understood that she wanted him to lie to the court in order to secure her acquittal. Hassan said the requested astounded him.
He added: ”She knows as well as I do what her role in the murder was; I told her the people are not going to deal with her ultimately, but that Allah will.”
Earlier, Engelbrecht was rebuked several times by Desai.
Engelbrecht had asked Hassen why he had signed a document containing errors. Hassen said he did not consider the errors in the document important.
Engelbrecht has a strong clear voice, and just before the tea break, the judge interrupted him to urge him to ”ask your questions softly”.
Engelbrecht repeatedly confronted Hassen over the fact that he had signed the document, instead of correcting the mistakes.
This seemed to irk the judge, who asked: ”How many times must you keep asking that? You can’t keep asking the same question.”
Engelbrecht replied: ”With respect, My Lord, I will ask it as many times as I consider it necessary.”
Engelbrecht again asked Hassen why he had signed the document.
Hassen replied: ”To get it finished with — any mistakes in the document could be clarified in court.”
The case continues on Monday. — Sapa