CASE: Lieutenant-Colonel Ashley Petersen with 87 bottles of cough syrup
Image: Supplied
Popular Cape Flats cop Lieutenant-Colonel Ashley Petersen has said his final farewells to SAPS after nearly 40 years of chasing skollies and killers.
This month, the officer fondly known as "Pietie" hung up his lapels and booked himself out at the Cape Town Central police station for his retirement.
Pietie started his career in the police in 1986 and took his first post at Bishop Lavis SAPS.
Over the years, the officer who led drug searches and manhunts for drug merts and killers worked at various stations, including Wynberg, Steenberg and Grassy Park where he served in various roles including shift commander, Crime Prevention unit commander and ended his career as a detective.
Pietie tells the Daily Voice: "Some of my career highlights were being nominated to secure Australian rugby team for the duration of 1995 Rugby World Cup and being nominated to manage operational room at Southern Sun Hotel Newlands to secure soccer teams during their stay during 2010 Fifa World Cup."
Pietie and his team made headlines in 2018 when he arrested one of the City’s most notorious killers, Ziyaad Haywood.
Haywood, who was on the Top 10 most wanted list in the Western Cape after killing a security guard in 2016 went on the run and as cops tried to trace him for two years, Pietie discovered his whereabouts and raided his parents Lotus River home.
Cheers were heard when the clever cop became suspicious of a cupboard in one of the bedrooms and kicked down the door where they discovered Haywood’s hideout.
Haywood was subsequently dubbed the "Closet Killer" and went on trial at the Western Cape High Court.
Haywood pleaded guilty to all 21 charges on the indictment, including murder, kidnapping, robbery and weapons charges.
He was sentenced to a total of 211 years, but as it will run concurrently, he will effectively spend 30 years behind bars.
Pietie also cracked the case of convicted child rapist and killer Steven Fortune.
The cop says: "As I retire, I want to rus ’n bietjie. But I still want to be of service to the people of Cape Town.
"I want to say to the young officers that they need to be disciplined. Discipline has gone out the window at SAPS and this is the cause of the problems."