Fingerprints sank suspects

2005-09-08 00:28

Cape Town - Fingerprints on a delivery note were the vital clue that enabled police to round up all four of the alleged hired killers of baby Jordan Leigh Norton in less than 24 hours, a Cape Town magistrate heard on Wednesday.

It also emerged on Wednesday that the four and alleged mastermind Dina Rodrigues are the only suspects in the case.

The State says the four pretended to be deliverymen to gain entrance to the Norton family's Lansdowne home on June 15 this year, before slitting the baby's throat and fleeing with loot that included a safe containing a gun.

The four are Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane, Zanethemba Gwada and a 16-year-old youth who is not applying for bail because he is already serving time for an unrelated robbery.

Testifying in a bail application by the three men, investigating officer inspector Esmerald Bailey of the serious and violent crime unit told the court that there were several fingerprints on the delivery note which was left on the scene after the killing.

Thumbprint

A fingerprint expert linked one of them, a left thumbprint, to Gwada, whose prints were on record after his arrest and release on warning on two housebreaking charges in April.

She got the expert's report on July 7 and, armed with a warrant, she and a team of six other police officers arrested Gwada at his Old Crossroads shack before dawn on July 8.

She explained to him, his mother and sister what she was arresting him for, and told him of his constitutional right to legal representation, and his sister repeated the explanation to him.

He was handcuffed, and as he left the house, offered to point out his accomplices.

Asked by prosecutor John Ryneveld exactly what Gwada had said, Bailey replied: "He wanted to show us the people who had broken into the place and that he was not involved."

He took them to Bobotyane's home in Bongisa Street in the Lusaka shack settlement, where they found the 16-year-old in his underpants knocking on Bobotyane's front door, and arrested him as well.

Confessions

Bailey said that in an later interview at the Cape Town Central police station, Gwada indicated that Bobotyane and the youth were "the actual people" who carried out the killing.

All three made signed confessions the same day, and that night Bobotyane led police to Mfazwe, who on his arrest showed police where the stolen gun, a .38 Special with the serial number still on it, and the safe, were.

Asked by Ryneveld if it was correct that there were no other suspects in the case besides the four and Rodrigues, who is already out on R20 000 bail, Bailey said: "That is correct, yes."

Rodrigues allegedly ordered the killing after learning that her then boyfriend, Neil Wilson, had fathered Jordan in a previous relationship.

Intends to plead guilty

Earlier on Wednesday, Gwada caused a stir in the court when he appeared to indicate that he intended to plead guilty when the case went to the Cape High Court for trial.

Gwada, who has a Standard Four education, said in reply to questioning from Ryneveld that was not exactly sure of the nature of the charges against him.

Ryneveld told him he faced one charge of contract murder, and a second of robbery with aggravating circumstances, and asked him what he planned to plead.

"Guilty," Gwada replied through the court's Xhosa interpreter.

"On both counts?" said a surprised Ryneveld.

"I won't answer that question," said Gwada.

His advocate, Charles Simon, saying he wanted "clarity", protested that he understood that Gwada's "won't answer" reply negated his statement that he intended to plead guilty.

After an adjournment Gwada, replying to a question from Ryneveld on whether he knew before Wednesday that he faced a minimum life sentence for his part in the killing, said: "The thing of saying I'm guilty, I won't say it in court."

'Forced by the Boers'

He said he was not informed of his rights when he was arrested, and that he was forced to point out the others.

"I was forced by the Boers to point them out," he said, adding later: "The reason I was saying I was forced is the police officers tightened the handcuffs I had on."

Asked why he had specifically pointed out those people, he said: "I won't answer that question."

He said he wanted bail because other inmates at Pollsmoor prison wanted to turn him into a gangster.

"I don't want to be a gangster. I'm not a gangster," he said.

He said he could afford R500 bail.

- SAPA