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'Calculated and cold-blooded'
28/06/2007 23:58 - (SA)
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| Killers Zanethemba Gwad and Dina Rodrigues pay close attention to what Judge Basheer Waglay says during sentencing. (Francois Nel, Die Burger) |
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Staff reporters, Die Burger
Cape Town - "Yes, you pig. Your life of luxury is over," shouted one of the crowd milling around outside the Cape Town High Court as convicted killer Dina Rodrigues was whisked away in a police van.
Judge Basheer Waglay, in sentencing Rogrigues to life for the murder of six-month-old Jordan-Leigh Norton, said: "Ultimately, hers was the hand that held the hand that murdered the baby."
She listened to her fate with puffed cheeks, a dejected expression and tears in her eyes.
Rodrigues, 26, had hired four accomplices to murder the six-month girl after learning that her lover at the time, school teacher Neil Wilson, had fathered the infant during an earlier relationship with the baby's mother, Natasha.
Two of her accomplices, Sipho Mfazwe and Mongezi Bobotyane, were also given life sentences for the murder. In addition, they were given 10 years each for aggravated armed robbery, relating to items they stole from the Norton home after the murder. The others, Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu, were effectively jailed for 15 years each for their part in the murder and robbery. 'Calculated, callous and cold-blooded'
Judge Basheer Waglay said the murder was "calculated, callous and cold-blooded", and "cowardly and cruel in the extreme".
He said Rodrigues had "returned to the safety of her work place" after engaging Mfazwe to recruit Bobotyane, Gwada and Sigenu to carry out the murder.
The judge added: "This was the most horrendous of crimes, from a calculated, evil mind.
"When she returned to her place of employ afterwards, I wonder if it even bothered her that she had just contracted men to murder a baby.
"This is evil personified - for her, organising the murder was like going to a supermarket to buy groceries."
Tommy Vavatzanidis, Rodrigues's attorney, said they would "possibly appeal".
Mary Rodrigues, Dina's mother, said she "loved her daughter more than ever and would definitely visit her in prison". Vernon Norton, baby Jordan-Leigh's grandfather, said on behalf of his family that they were satisfied with the sentence and were "glad to see that the justice system worked". Floral or denim dress
According to Die Burger sources, Rodrigues will spend the next 25 years in a floral or a denim dress - probably in the nursery or the laundry of the infamous Pollsmoor prison or at Worcester prison.
Lukas Muntingh, co-ordinator of the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative confirmed on Thursday that it would be one of the two, because they were the only ones for women in the province. According to him Pollsmoor's female prison is 156% in excess of its capacity, and Worcester is 73% full. The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) did not want to comment. Supper six slices of bread
James Selfe, DA spokesperson on correctional services told Health 24 that Rodrigues would have to adapt to getting up at 07:00 to a breakfast of porridge and coffee or juice, and to spend the day on rehabilitation programmes.
At about 15:00 she will receive her supper of six slices of bread and something to drink, before being locked up and left to the mercy of her cellmates for the night. - Llewellyn Prince, Diana-Marié Strydom, Carryn-Ann Nel
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