WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-05-06 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Ella Smook
The robbery in the Petersen household on the night of Taliep Petersen’s murder was no ordinary house robbery, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.
Superintendent Piet Viljoen, commanding officer of the police’s organised crime unit, told the court he was so sure of this that he was willing to stake his reputation on it.
He said his suspicions were immediately aroused when he arrived at the Petersen house in Athlone the morning after the murders and found the safe still filled with jewellery, valuable old and foreign currency, watches and sunglasses.
“No ordinary house robber would have left those items,” he said.
Furthermore, Najwa Petersen, who was now standing trial for the murder of her husband, was desperate to hold on to what she called her “business phone”, when Viljoen wanted to take it for analysis.
Viljoen said after receiving the detailed billing, which showed the numbers dialled from the phone on the night of the murder, he realised why.
Petersen had deleted the last number she dialled before the murder from her outgoing call list.
The number belonged to Fahiem Hendricks, who is now a State witness, and the man the State says acted as a link between Petersen and the men allegedly arranged to kill her husband.
Petersen’s advocate Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau desperately tried to discredit Viljoen, but the policeman was adamant that his testimony was based on years of experience and he stood steadfastly by his assessment of the facts.
“I put everything, my entire credibility on the line, that a real robber would have emptied that safe. It was no house robbery that evening,” he said.
Earlier, Taliep Petersen’s lifetime friend and creative partner, David Kramer, took to the stand to testify in the high-profile murder trial.
Removing his signature hat while on the stand, Kramer, dressed in a pale yellow shirt and black jacket, confirmed that Petersen had been a very private person.
“One couldn’t just walk into his studio without making an appointment,” he said.
He said Najwa Petersen often invested money in his and Petersen’s productions. But he said he was not aware that she had power of attorney over the couple’s money, and he could not say who handled the finances.
Cross-examination of Viljoen was continuing at the time of going to press.
Yesterday, the court heard how Taliep Petersen covered up for his wife after Najwa stabbed him in the neck while he was sleeping, eight months before a successful attempt on his life.
Taliep’s daughter Jawaahier said Petersen, bleeding profusely from the wound after the April 13, 2006 incident, had given the knife to a domestic worker to wash and had put on a dark sweater to hide his blood-soaked white shirt, before he was rushed to hospital.
Once at the hospital, Petersen would not hear of informing the police, and his family obeyed his wishes.
Petersen’s advocate, Klaus von Lieres und Wilkau, countered that a witness had made a statement to police, saying the stabbing had been an accident.
According to this unidentified witness, Taliep’s birthday was coming up and Najwa had been cutting a cake, when “she got a fit. He tried to restrain her and then she stabbed him in the neck”.
This version of the incident, that Taliep had made clear he wanted to “keep hush-hush”, differed dramatically from the Jawaahier’s version.
Jawaahier said her stepmother was “as right as rain” when she went to the couple’s bedroom to say good night at about 11 on the night of the stabbing.
About 30 minutes later, her younger sister banged on her bedroom door, saying: “Tietie, Tietie, Daddy’s calling you but he doesn’t sound right!”
Jawaahier rushed to the Petersen couple’s bedroom, put her ear to the door, and heard: “Najwa, no! Najwa, no!”
After some hesitation, she entered the room, illuminated only by faint blue light from a small television.
“Daddy, where are you?” she called, to which Taliep replied: “Put on the light, but don’t freak out.”
“All I could see was blood. Blood everywhere, on the blankets, the sheets, the blinds, the phone,” said Jawaahier.
“I stepped around the bed, and there she was, kneeling down in a prayer posture, her pink pajamas soaked in blood.”
Taliep was behind Najwa, who looked like she was trying to stab Taliep again. He was holding her arm, with the knife pointed towards him.
Jawaahier did not yet know where the blood was coming from, as “they were both covered in blood”.
But she noticed that Najwa’s “eyes were demonic”.
“She looked like a zombie,” Jawaahier said under cross-examination.
Earlier yesterday, Taliep’s sister, Taghmeeda Johnson, testified that the last four years of his marriage had been “horrible”, but in April 2006, just before his birthday, he had told her that his marriage was not working out, his children were not happy and he was thinking of buying a house for himself and the children.
Najwa Petersen, through her advocate, admitted yesterday to the stabbing, but said that she did not know how it happened.
The trial continues.