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Teen: Dina told us to kill
13/02/2007 07:06 - (SA)
Llewellyn Prince, Die Burger
Cape Town - A teenager who asked for the Jordan Leigh Norton trial to be re-opened so that the baby's family could hear the truth, pointed out the alleged mastermind in the murder trial, as "the white woman" in the dock.
"There she is, the white woman, accused No 3, who gave us a parcel and a paper (waybill) to get into the house (where the murder took place)."
A packed courtroom snatched a collective breath when the 18-year-old pointed straight at Dina Rodrigues. It was the first time in the drawn-out trial that Rodrigues was referred as "the white woman".
She closed her eyes and sighed deeply while the teenager gave his evidence.
Judge Basheer Waglay ruled that the name of the youth, who turned 18 on Sunday, could not be published until an application on this had been heard on Thursday.
The youth also said his fellow accused, Mongezi Bobotyane, 25 , "had put his finger in the playful four-month-old's mouth and then cut her throat".
Sobbed aloud in court
It was too much for the baby's mother, Natasha Norton, who is pregnant, and the granny, Anastasia Norton.
They sobbed aloud when they heard this evidence. The boy said he had decided to give evidence "because he wanted the family to know the truth about what happened to their child".
He had wanted to do this before his previous advocate had closed his case, but the advocate had not followed his instructions.
Judge Waglay ruled that the youth could re-open his case.
The youth, Bobotyane, Sipho Mfazwe, 33, Zanthemba Gwada, 19, and Dina Rodrigues earlier denied that she offered them R10 000 to kill the baby in its grandparents' home in Lansdowne on June 15 2005.
At the time, Rodrigues was in a relationship with the baby's biological father.
While they were visiting his shebeen, Mfazwe told the youth and the two other accused "about a white woman's plan to have a baby killed for R10 000".
They visited the house in Scout Road where the murder took place twice, before going there on June 15 2005, in Mfazwe's minibus taxi, to deliver "a parcel and a paper that the white woman gave us".
Everyone except the boy had knives. They entered the home when the child's uncle opened the door to sign the waybill for the package.
"I was told to take the child away from the domestic and go and strangle it in a room. The child started playing on the bed and reminded me of my little brother."
"I couldn't do it. Bobotyane walked in and asked why I hadn't done it. I told him to do it, but only when I was out of the house."
'Showed us the bloodied knife'
He said Bobotyane remained behind in the room.
"In the taxi, Bobotyane showed us a bloodied knife that he had used to kill the child."
The "white woman" had handed them R5 000 in a white envelope, in a parking area at Killarney.
They were to get the rest of the money later. The money was equally divided.
"I bought clothes with my R1 100."
- Die Burger
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