The Last Words of Rowan du Preez: Murder and Conspiracy on the Cape Flats by Simone Haysom is out in September from Jonathan Ball Publishers.

‘A South African version of In Cold Blood, done with great integrity. It reads like a thriller.’ – John Maytham

In 2012 Angy Peter was bringing up her young children with her husband in Bardale, Mfuleni on the Cape Flats. Angy was an activist, and spent her days collecting evidence for a commission of inquiry into policing that had the chance to change law enforcement across the country’s troubled townships. She was vocally against vigilante violence and a go-to person when demanding better services from the police.

But when the commission started its hearings, Angy found herself on trial for murdering – necklacing – a young neighbourhood troublemaker, Rowan du Preez. The state’s case centred on the accusation Rowan had allegedly made with his dying breath – that Angy had set alight the tyre around his neck.

Haysom takes us into the heart of a mystery: was Angy Peter framed by the police for a murder she did not commit? Or was she, as the State argued, ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’, who won a young man’s trust then turned against him, in the most brutal way?

Haysom spent four years meticulously researching this case and the result is a courtroom drama interwoven with expert opinion and research into crime and the state of policing in the townships of South Africa.

About the author

Simone Haysom is a South African writer and a previous recipient of a Miles Morland scholarship for African writers. She has degrees from the universities of Cape Town and Cambridge, which she attended as a Gates Scholar. Haysom works at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, where her current research focuses on illicit trade and corruption, and wildlife cybercrime.

Categories Non-fiction South Africa South African Current Affairs

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