I have nothing to hide: Najwa

Murder accused Najwa Petersen claimed repeatedly she had "nothing to hide" when she made her first formal statement to police about her husband's death, the Cape Town High Court heard today.

She also said there had been no bad feelings between her and her husband Taliep, investigating officer Captain Joe Dryden said.

He was testifying in the trial of Najwa and three men she allegedly hired to murder Taliep on the night of December 16, 2006.

Dryden said when he took the statement two days after the killing, he was not yet the investigating officer and had been asked by a colleague merely to take a witness statement from Najwa.

He went to her home in Athlone, Cape Town, and found her sitting in a bedroom, and when he explained what he wanted, she began telling him about her medical history - she suffered from a psychiatric disorder -and that she has been receiving treatment in hospital.

Najwa's statement
Dryden read out the statement he took from Najwa. In it she said she was woken on the night of the 16th by a man with a gun who made her take money from a safe. She saw some men tying up Taliep on the floor before being locked in a bedroom, then heard a shot followed by a "deathly silence".

In the statement Najwa also went into detail about her psychiatric treatment, saying she was suffering from stress and depression and had tried to commit suicide.

She described how she stabbed Taliep in the neck in their bedroom in April that year. "The fact that I stabbed Taliep in his neck did not cause any bad feelings between us," she said. "Taliep knew my condition and that I was receiving treatment for it."

She said there had been no conflict between them on the night of the murder. Towards the end of this statement Najwa said: "I have nothing to hide," and repeated it a few sentences later. "This is all true and I have nothing to hide." - Sapa