The prosecution team in the Jordan-Leigh Norton murder case on Wednesday called for life sentences for mastermind Dina Rodrigues and three of her four co-accused.
For co-accused Bonginkosi Sigenu, prosecutors Nicollette Bell and Maria Marshall called for a long-term jail sentence but not life imprisonment.
Sentence is to be handed down on Thursday next week by Cape High Court Judge Basheer Waglay and two assessors.
With Rodrigues and Sigenu in the dock are Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane and Zanethemba Gwada.
Bell listed the aggravating factors that called for life sentences for Rodrigues, Mfazwe, Bobotyane and Gwada.
”The baby was only six months old when she was brutally killed in her own home,” she said.
”This was a contract killing.
”The family was robbed of seeing the baby grow up, and all the attackers were armed with knives.
”The murder and robbery were planned, and the household servant as well as a Norton family member were tied up in the house.”
She said those who did not testify (Mfazwe, Bobotyane, Rodrigues and Gwada) had deprived the community of an opportunity to hear the reason for this atrocity, and to make sense of it.
She said the intention was clearly to murder.
There were no compelling and substantial factors to justify a sentence less than life in prison for the four and the minimum sentence would have to be imposed.
She said the community interests and the seriousness of the murder and robbery outweighed the personal circumstances of the four.
Of Rodrigues, Bell said: ”She is the principal offender.”
Bell said her motive was a jealous relationship to the baby’s mother Natasha and the baby herself.
Bell said Rodrigues had abused a privileged financial and social background.
She said: ”She went to a taxi rank to seek out vulnerable people from a poor background to carry out this deed.
”She lured them with an offer of R10 000 to kill the baby.
”She took her time in planning the murder … She obtained a way bill with which her co-accused were to pose as couriers delivering a parcel, in order to get access to the house.”
Bell said that the Telkom records showed how Rodrigues had obsessively called the Norton home.
She said Rodrigues had obtained the parcel to be delivered to the house and to ensure that her co-accused got access to the house. She phoned the Norton home to inform them that a package would be delivered the next day.
”Her selfish action has had a devastating effect — the baby is dead and two juveniles, [Gwada and Sigenu] now face jail for this.
”The Norton family life will never be the same and there has been no remorse shown.”
Bell said Rodrigues had not taken the court into her confidence to explain to them and the Norton family why she had done this.
She said that murder was the most serious offence that could be committed and life imprisonment was reserved for such very serious offences.
Fair and balanced sentence
Meanwhile, Rodrigues’s advocate, Johan Van der Berg, called on Wednesday for a fair and balanced sentence for her for the premeditated murder.
He delivered his closing argument in the Cape High Court concerning an appropriate sentence for his 26-year-old client.
Van der Berg told Judge Basheer Waglay and the two assessors that the fact that Rodrigues was a first offender was crucial to sentencing. Together with other factors this constituted substantial and compelling circumstances that justified a sentence less severe than life imprisonment.
Van der Berg reminded the court of the testimony of Rodrigues’s lover at the time of the killing — Neil Wilson — that she was a caring and decent person and had been open and trustworthy in their relationship.
Rodrigues’s motive for the murder was to spare Wilson, whom she planned to marry, the financial burden of maintenance payments for the baby.
Van der Berg said Rodrigues was a ”laat lammetjie [youngster] living with her parents at the time of the murder in June 2005”.
He said she had worked in a family business and in these circumstances it was not unreasonable to infer immaturity of judgement.
Her youth — 24 at the time of the murder — and good character were mitigating factors. — Sapa