Two Arrested

18 June, 2007 saw the first arrests in the Taliep Petersen murder case.

A 45-year-old woman was arrested about 7.40pm at her house in Athlone. A 41-year-man was arrested about 8.30pm in the Strandfontein area. As is standard procedure, the suspects were not named.

The police stated: “The particulars of the suspects will not be released until they have appeared in court. Investigators have indicated the possibility of further arrests, but detail in this regard cannot be confirmed at this stage.”

The suspects were expected to be charged for murder and would appear in court in due course. It later emerged that one of them has a criminal record and has served time in prison.

Although the names were not released, it was clear that the 45 year old woman was none other than Taliep’s wife Najwa!

Third Arrest

The following day saw the questioning of a third person. Following the questioning, this person was also arrested. The suspect was a 34-year-old man from the Athlone area of Cape Town.

Superintendent Billy Jones confirmed that the accused would appear in the Wynberg magistrate’s court on the Thursday. He declined to name the person until they had appeared in court.

Manhunt

The 20th June saw a massive manhunt for a fourth man believed to be a part of the murder plot. He was described by sources as one of the hitmen who murdered Taliep.

At this time it was also alleged that Najwa had called three lawyers to represent her after receiving a tip-off about her arrest on Monday afternoon, but all had refused.

A fourth lawyer agreed and they met at the Athlone Police station before going back to the house where she was questioned and arrested by police hours later.

Sources said information on a computer seized recently from the Petersen home had led the police to a relative who made a sworn statement about the murder.

Meanwhile Najwa Petersen was being held at the Bellville South police station while the two others were being held at other police stations.

Najwa’s mother, Jainap Dirks, said Najwa was “not doing too well”. She said her daughter was a psychiatric patient and needed constant treatment and medication.

The ensuing months were very quiet in terms of any progress in the case. Police did not release statements and the family kept its silence.

In February, 2007 Superintendant Billy Jones released a statement that a man had been question in regards to the murder. They stressed that he was not a suspect. “It was just a routine questioning, nothing else.”

April 15th saw a press release saying that four suspects, believed to have been business associates of Taliep had been identified by police. Further more, they were believed to be in hiding.

Police, however, said in a statement that there was still nothing new in the investigation. Police spokesperson Superintendent Billy Jones could not confirm that the suspects were known to the police.

Apparently these four had “moved in the same circles” as Taliep and he had bailed them out following an unsuccessful business transaction.

Earlier this year, detectives from the Organised Crime Unit took in a man for questioning in connection with the murder.

Apparently detectives had received a tip-off and went to premises in Bishop Lavis where they questioned 12 people. They found dagga and arrested them. Could this be the four mystery men?

It was also reported that police computer technicians had visited Petersen’s home to check his two computers. Investigators checked the hard drives for information that could lead them to the killers. Could this info be related to the four mystery men?

Were the police just keeping the information ‘close to their chests’, or was the source of the information wrong?

The investigation into Taliep’s murder did not stop for Xmas.

On 27 December the police said that they were questioning family members based on information they had found in his diary. It is not clear when the police recovered the diary, as it had been reported to have been missing from the house before Xmas.

Minstrel Carnival

The annual minstrel carnival started on a sad note. Taliep had been closely involved with the carnival since he was a boy and knew many of the people who took part.

The minstrel carnival (formerly called the Coon Carnival) is the most festive time for many ‘Coloured’ people of the Western Cape. Inspired by blackface minstrels who visited Cape Town, South Africa, in 1848, former Javan and Malaysian slaves took up the minstrel tradition, holding emancipation celebrations which consisted of music, dancing and parades.

In the African-American cakewalk tradition, their songs often parodied their former masters and the privileged, white class. Such celebrations eventually became consolidated into an annual, year-end event known as the Cape Coon Carnival. (Source: Wikipedia)

Today, carnival minstrels are mostly Coloured (”mixed race”), Afrikaans-speaking revellers.

Thousands of people attending the opening ceremony observed a moment of silence for Taliep Petersen.

“We meet the minstrels today on a sad note. Taliep Petersen is not here anymore. This is where he showed his talent and our culture.

“Taliep Petersen was raised here and he was a gift to the nation and the world. Taliep would have been the first person to tell us that the show must go on,” said Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool.

For some additional pictures and articles, click to see Henry Trotter’s experience.

The week leading up to the 22 December 2006, saw a lot of strange developments in regards to the case.

Firstly it was reported that an unnamed relative of Taliep had gone into hiding, following a sworn police statement implicating several people close to the family. The police said that they did not know the whereabouts of this particular person.

Police also revealed that Taliep’s diary had mysteriously gone missing from his Athlone home. They believed that it contained a key piece of evidence relating to the murder. One can only wonder why they didn’t take it for safe keeping at an earlier time!

It was also revealed that the Dirks family had decided against signing or giving any further statements to the police. This followed the gruelling two day questioning of Najwa and her son Achmat.

Police also said that they had found a red Toyota bakkie which had possibly been used as the getaway car. They had found the vehicle in Bellville and taken it to Stikland’s police yard for forensic examinations.

As the week unfolded and more details of the attack emerged, it became clear that the killing of Taliep was a well-planned and organised hit - and the initial appearance of a robbery was intended to throw police off the killers’ trail.

Four days after the murder, police spokesperson Billy Jones said that provincial detectives from Bellville had been assigned to the case.

This brought the number of detectives working on the case to over 12. It had become clear that the police were taking this murder very seriously. They had many leads to cover and different aspects to investigate.

The Top Cop

At this time, a top police investigator, Superintendent Piet Viljoen had taken over the investigation. Viljoen was a 43 year old, well respected, specialist detective who had won the pestigious ‘Detective of the Year’ award several times.

He had been one of the top investigators in the now defunct ‘murder and robbery unit’ and was now the head of the provincial organised crime unit. Among his many cases, he had worked on the Jurgen Harksen fraud case, the Vito Palazzolo case and the 2004 murder of Dutch student Marleen Konings.
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