Reporter: Fatima Schroeder
NAJWA Petersen, who is expected to launch another appeal against her conviction for the murder of her husband, should “give up and serve her sentence”, according to Taliep Petersen’s family. Taliep’s brother, Igsaan Petersen, said yesterday that Najwa had “messed up” their lives. “Why doesn’t she just give up and serve her sentence… She has hurt us too much, especially my brother’s children, to ever see the outside world again… She has to rot in prison,” he said. Commenting on her expected petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal for leave to appeal against her conviction, Petersen said he knew Najwa had a right to appeal, but hoped she did not succeed. “I feel and I know deep down that she won’t get it… If you do the crime, you must do the time,” he added. Petersen also spoke of how difficult things had been for him and his family since his brother’s murder. He said Najwa’s attempts to have her conviction overturned had hampered the family’s attempts to get closure. “When she was sentenced, we got a bit of closure. We just started to get on with our lives when we heard that she wanted to appeal,” he said. He said Taliep’s children were still struggling to accept that their father had been killed. It would take a long time for allof their lives to get back to normal, Petersen said. “It’s now in Allah’s hands,” he said. Taliep Petersen was murdered on December 16, 2006. His wife and three others were sentenced for their parts in the murder earlier this year.