Friday
Eligible for parole in 20 years
Dina Rodrigues was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2007 so will be eligible for parole in 2027
Dinas failed bid for leave to appeal life sentence
In 2013 Dina Rodrigues gave a statement which was contained in an affidavit filed at the Supreme Court of Appeal in a failed bid to apply for special leave to appeal her life sentence.
The application was dismissed.
In the affidavit Dina said she had "immaturely" decided the baby - born to her then boyfriend Neil Wilson from a previous relationship - would condemn her to a life of "continuing emotional turmoil and unhappiness.
"Looking back now, with the wisdom of hindsight and with the advantage of more experience in life, I realise that I was simply experiencing the unsophisticated emotions of an immature and inexperienced woman, adult in body, but not in mind."
The application was dismissed.
In the affidavit Dina said she had "immaturely" decided the baby - born to her then boyfriend Neil Wilson from a previous relationship - would condemn her to a life of "continuing emotional turmoil and unhappiness.
"Looking back now, with the wisdom of hindsight and with the advantage of more experience in life, I realise that I was simply experiencing the unsophisticated emotions of an immature and inexperienced woman, adult in body, but not in mind."
Prison Life
Dina Rodrigues is serving her sentence at a medium-security prison in Worcester,
in the Boland, and passed a Unisa-accredited adult basic education and
training facilitators and assessors course with an "A" aggregate in
2010.
Before that she completed a bachelor of commerce degree.
Dina Rodrigues pends most of her time at the prison school for women, where she teaches adult basic education classes, which are compulsory. She also teaches numeracy.
Before that she completed a bachelor of commerce degree.
Dina Rodrigues pends most of her time at the prison school for women, where she teaches adult basic education classes, which are compulsory. She also teaches numeracy.
Sentencing
Dina Rodrigues, the mastermind in the June 2005 murder of baby Jordan-Leigh Norton, has been sentenced to life in prison. She will be eligible for parole in 20 years.
Two of her co-accused, Sipho Mongezi Mfazwe and Mongezi Bobotyane, also received life sentences. In addition they got 10 years’ jail each for armed robbery.
The two other youths involved in the murder, Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu, were each effectively sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for the murder and the robbery combined.
Dina Rodrigues
Two of her co-accused, Sipho Mongezi Mfazwe and Mongezi Bobotyane, also received life sentences. In addition they got 10 years’ jail each for armed robbery.
The two other youths involved in the murder, Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu, were each effectively sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for the murder and the robbery combined.
Baby Jordans murder
It was testified that the single wound which killed Jordan-Leigh was applied with such
force that it severed the airway and left incisions on the
vertebrae.
"The cause of death was a penetrating, incisive wound to the neck and the consequences thereof,"
Van der Heyde said that, besides the trachea, damage also was caused to the oesophagus (gullet), the left jugular vein, and the left vertebral artery.
The spinal cord was intact.
She said the six-month-old baby, who was received at the mortuary in a nappy, measured 63cm from head to heel, weighed eight kilograms, had a small physique and good nutrition.
"(Her) face and neck (was) covered in blood."
Van der Heyde said the wound was 2.7cm long and had regular, sharp edges, "consistent with that caused by a sharp object".
She could not say what type of weapon was used, but it could have been a knife.
Van der Heyde said the baby would have bled to death in less than 10 minutes.
"The cause of death was a penetrating, incisive wound to the neck and the consequences thereof,"
Van der Heyde said that, besides the trachea, damage also was caused to the oesophagus (gullet), the left jugular vein, and the left vertebral artery.
The spinal cord was intact.
She said the six-month-old baby, who was received at the mortuary in a nappy, measured 63cm from head to heel, weighed eight kilograms, had a small physique and good nutrition.
"(Her) face and neck (was) covered in blood."
Van der Heyde said the wound was 2.7cm long and had regular, sharp edges, "consistent with that caused by a sharp object".
She could not say what type of weapon was used, but it could have been a knife.
Van der Heyde said the baby would have bled to death in less than 10 minutes.
The case
Prosecutors claimed that Dina was angry that her boyfriend had fathered a child with Natasha Norton and wanted to spare him the shame of having a child out of wedlock.
Prosecutor said that Dina hired four men Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane, Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu and began plotting the murder.
Initially the four were to gain entry to the house by pretending to deliver a telephone directory but they were not succesful.
Dina the supplied them with a waybill and they were told to pretend to be delivery men delivering a parcel and this way gain entry to the house
The night before the murder the Nortons received a call from a white woman telling them they would receive a package.
The four men visited the house 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 Sigenu had knives. They gained entrance to the home when the babies uncle Dylan Norton opened the door to sign the waybill for the package. They proceeded to bound and gag Dylan as well as the babies nanny Thobeka.
Bonginkosi Sigenu testimony in court later brought the gruesome details of the murder into sharp focus.
Sigenu told the packed court that fellow accused Mongezi Bobotyane had put his finger in the four month olds' mouth and then cut her throat.
He had been told to take the child from the domestic and go strangle it in a room. The child started playing on the bed and reminded him of his little brother and he could not do it.
When Bobotyane walked in and asked why I had not done it, I told him to do it but only when I was out of the house.
"In the taxi, Bobotyane showed us a bloodied knife that he had used to kill the child." The baby had been stabbed in the neck and left to die with the nanny and uncle bound and gagged. The men left with a safe containing a firearm disguise the murder as an armed robbery.
Judge Basheer Waglay told a packed courtroom that he accepted expert evidence that Dina Rodrigues s thumbprints and handwriting were found on the waybill left at the scene.
Telkom records used as evidence in court reveal that seven calls were made to the Norton house from Dina's workplace, a novelty-toy company in Milnerton, where she obtained the blank waybill.
Prosecutor said that Dina hired four men Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane, Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu and began plotting the murder.
Initially the four were to gain entry to the house by pretending to deliver a telephone directory but they were not succesful.
Dina the supplied them with a waybill and they were told to pretend to be delivery men delivering a parcel and this way gain entry to the house
The night before the murder the Nortons received a call from a white woman telling them they would receive a package.
The four men visited the house 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 Sigenu had knives. They gained entrance to the home when the babies uncle Dylan Norton opened the door to sign the waybill for the package. They proceeded to bound and gag Dylan as well as the babies nanny Thobeka.
Bonginkosi Sigenu testimony in court later brought the gruesome details of the murder into sharp focus.
Sigenu told the packed court that fellow accused Mongezi Bobotyane had put his finger in the four month olds' mouth and then cut her throat.
He had been told to take the child from the domestic and go strangle it in a room. The child started playing on the bed and reminded him of his little brother and he could not do it.
When Bobotyane walked in and asked why I had not done it, I told him to do it but only when I was out of the house.
"In the taxi, Bobotyane showed us a bloodied knife that he had used to kill the child." The baby had been stabbed in the neck and left to die with the nanny and uncle bound and gagged. The men left with a safe containing a firearm disguise the murder as an armed robbery.
Judge Basheer Waglay told a packed courtroom that he accepted expert evidence that Dina Rodrigues s thumbprints and handwriting were found on the waybill left at the scene.
Telkom records used as evidence in court reveal that seven calls were made to the Norton house from Dina's workplace, a novelty-toy company in Milnerton, where she obtained the blank waybill.
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