Najwa refused appeal by Supreme court

By Ofentse Mokae
01 August 2009

Najwa Petersen, accused number one in the murder of celebrated Cape Town musician Taliep Petersen, has been refused appeal for her sentences for the killing.

Petersen together with her co-accused Abdoer Emjedi applied for leave to appeal against the sentence which was handed earlier this year at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bleomfontein.

Petersen is serving a 28-year sentence for the murder.

Handing down sentence in the Cape Town High Court in February, Judge Siraj Desai said he was not able to find who fired the shot that killed the celebrated musician.

Petersen, Emjedi and Waheed Hassen were found guilty of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Petersen later claimed she did not receive a fair trial and that Judge Desai was biased and pressured witnesses into saying what he wanted them to say.

Taliep was killed with a single shot to the head after being tied up with cable ties in his Athlone home on the night of December 16 2006.

The fourth accused, Jeffery Snyders, was found guilty of one count of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

All the accused had pleaded not guilty.