The grandfather of murdered baby Jordan-Leigh Norton collapsed in a doctor’s surgery upon learning she could not be resuscitated, the Cape High Court heard on Wednesday.
”I think I just collapsed in a bundle on the chair and sobbed,” testified Vernon Norton at the trial of five people accused of killing the six-month-old child.
The five — alleged mastermind Dina Rodrigues, Zanethemba Gwada, Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane and a 16-year-old youth — have pleaded not guilty to all charges, including murder and conspiracy to murder.
Norton was the last of Jordan-Leigh’s immediate family to take the stand, following testimony earlier on Wednesday from the baby’s mother, Natasha, and grandmother, Anastasia.
On June 15 last year, his son Dylan and the receptionist at a doctor’s surgery told him his granddaughter was dead. He pleaded with paramedics to resuscitate her, ”for what seemed an eternity, but was probably a minute or so” before being informed that there was nothing more that could be done.
Earlier, tears flowed freely in the dock and public gallery when Jordan-Leigh’s mother and grandmother testified. Natasha, weeping, told the court of the effect the death of her six-month-old baby had on her.
”As you can see I’m an absolute mess. I’m on anti-depressants … I can’t even look at a little girl without thinking what Jordan would have looked like,” said Natasha (22).
Natasha told the court the baby’s biological father, Neil Wilson, took a test to confirm his paternity. Wilson was involved with Rodrigues when he learned he was the baby’s father.
Natasha, led by prosecutor Nicolette Bell, said she had never been introduced to Rodrigues and did not have any contact or conversation with her.
However, Natasha testified she had received a phone call and SMS from Rodrigues in connection with the results of the paternity test. The only other contact they had was the day her baby was killed.
Rodrigues sent a text message reading: ”Sorry to hear about your baby. You and your family are in my prayers.”
Advocate John van der Berg, for Rodrigues, said since the arrest of his client, there had been a ”concerted and sustained campaign of vilification against her”. This went to the question of bias, he contended.
Natasha’s mother, Anastasia Norton, took the stand next and told of two ”strange” phone calls she received on June 6, a week before the murder. Anastasia said a woman, identifying herself as ”Bobby”, called the Norton home, asking for Natasha. ”Bobby” never left any messages and terminated the call when Natasha took the phone.
Anastasia testified their telephone had a caller-ID facility, and she remembered it was a ”55 number”, either from Milnerton or Montague Gardens. Rodrigues lived in the Milnerton area.
The trial continues on Thursday. — Sapa