RAMESH
08-21-2007, 03:54 PM
Men linked to murder of unborn child sentenced
August 21, 2007, 22:00
The East London man who hired a hit man to kill his unborn child has been sentenced to an effective 21 years' imprisonment. David Best has also been disqualified from owning a firearm. His co-accused, Ludwe Masumpa, is to serve an effective 15 years.
Judge Johan Froneman has ordered that Best should not be released on parole before he completes 13 years of the sentence. The two men were sentenced in the East London High Court for the attempted murder of Best's girlfriend, Melissa Shelver. She was shot twice and lost her unborn child. When passing sentence, Froneman described Best as a schemer and a psychopath, who used poor people to fulfil his ambitions.
Froneman said it was outrageous for someone to attack a pregnant woman. He said he took Masumpa's background into consideration when passing sentence on him.
The investigating team that cracked the case of the two men says it was happy with the outcome and the sentences. The head of the investigating team, Deon Coetzee, says the efforts of the team made the investigation easy.
Dina Rodrigues
Last June, the helpless Jordan Leigh Norton had a knife driven through her tiny neck with such force that it left the infant effectively skewered.
This, in itself, rocked Cape Town. The immediate, and spontaneous, outpourings of grief and empathy spoke to the usual South African clichés.
Four black men, victims of economic depravation or heartless thugs, depending on your point of view, had apparently gained access to the Norton family home, where Jordan lived with her mother, her uncle Dylan, and grandparents, on the pretext of delivering a parcel.
Once there, the men bound and gagged Dylan Norton as well as the child's nanny, Thobeka, and robbed the house, in the mixed-middle class suburb of Lansdowne, of some items.
When Dylan, 19, finally managed to free himself, he found his niece's body hidden under a pillow on his bed with blood pumping out of the gaping wound in her neck. She had minutes left to live.
</SPAN>Rodrigues now claims that those prints were planted by copsInitially, it appeared to have been a simple robbery gone bad.
Yes, the seemingly pointless murder of the only witness in the house who would have been unable to subsequently identify her assailants was confusing. But, after all, this is a country where grown men rape babies.
The police were not convinced. The value of the items taken from the house was negligible. And when investigators discovered that a "white woman" had phoned the Norton house the night before the murder, to announce the imminent arrival of a "package", they were quickly on the trail of Dina Rodrigues.
Baby Jordan's mother, Natasha, 22, and Dina moved in the same Cape Town southern suburbs social set. They are similar in many ways, but it is obvious that Rodrigues, a white, has enjoyed a more privileged upbringing than Norton, a coloured.
Two things they do share are a strong faith - both are devout Catholics - and their taste in men.
Both young women enjoyed torrid sexual relationships with handsome Neil Wilson, a 23-year-old teacher. He was Jordan's father and was involved in an ongoing tryst with Dina at the time of the child's murder.
Prosecutors insist Dina was furious when she discovered that her lover had fathered a child with a coloured woman. The state says she began plotting to have the baby killed.
The jealous Rodrigues allegedly drove to a taxi rank in Cape Town and simply asked around for people willing to commit a crime in return for cash.
The police claim that this is the way things work in the world of Dina Rodrigues: there will always be black people who take taxis willing to kill a coloured baby if a white woman pays them enough.
The Cape High Court has already heard that she promised four men - Sipho Mfwaze, 33, Mongezi Bobotyane, 22, Zanethamba Gwada, 18, and a 16-year-old youth - a grand total of R10 000 to end the life of little Jordan.
Judge Basheer Waglay has also been told that Rodrigues prepared the "package" to be delivered to the Norton house herself and even wrote out a courier waybill that she had obtained at her job in a novelty-toy company.
An expert has confirmed that the fingerprints of Rodrigues and two of the men she allegedly hired at the taxi rank were found on that waybill at the scene of the murder. Rodrigues now claims that those prints were planted by cops.
Neil Wilson has testified that he is scared of his former lover, Rodrigues, and that she told him that she had paid R10 000 for "it all to go away".
Indeed, Wilson may have good reason to be frightened. Months after the murder, Dina had her bail revoked for sending him threatening messages.
And just 10 days ago, Dina's Johannesburg-based brother, Orlando, was arrested and charged for allegedly running his finger across his neck at Wilson in a threatening gesture at court.
August 21, 2007, 22:00
The East London man who hired a hit man to kill his unborn child has been sentenced to an effective 21 years' imprisonment. David Best has also been disqualified from owning a firearm. His co-accused, Ludwe Masumpa, is to serve an effective 15 years.
Judge Johan Froneman has ordered that Best should not be released on parole before he completes 13 years of the sentence. The two men were sentenced in the East London High Court for the attempted murder of Best's girlfriend, Melissa Shelver. She was shot twice and lost her unborn child. When passing sentence, Froneman described Best as a schemer and a psychopath, who used poor people to fulfil his ambitions.
Froneman said it was outrageous for someone to attack a pregnant woman. He said he took Masumpa's background into consideration when passing sentence on him.
The investigating team that cracked the case of the two men says it was happy with the outcome and the sentences. The head of the investigating team, Deon Coetzee, says the efforts of the team made the investigation easy.
Dina Rodrigues
Last June, the helpless Jordan Leigh Norton had a knife driven through her tiny neck with such force that it left the infant effectively skewered.
This, in itself, rocked Cape Town. The immediate, and spontaneous, outpourings of grief and empathy spoke to the usual South African clichés.
Four black men, victims of economic depravation or heartless thugs, depending on your point of view, had apparently gained access to the Norton family home, where Jordan lived with her mother, her uncle Dylan, and grandparents, on the pretext of delivering a parcel.
Once there, the men bound and gagged Dylan Norton as well as the child's nanny, Thobeka, and robbed the house, in the mixed-middle class suburb of Lansdowne, of some items.
When Dylan, 19, finally managed to free himself, he found his niece's body hidden under a pillow on his bed with blood pumping out of the gaping wound in her neck. She had minutes left to live.
</SPAN>Rodrigues now claims that those prints were planted by copsInitially, it appeared to have been a simple robbery gone bad.
Yes, the seemingly pointless murder of the only witness in the house who would have been unable to subsequently identify her assailants was confusing. But, after all, this is a country where grown men rape babies.
The police were not convinced. The value of the items taken from the house was negligible. And when investigators discovered that a "white woman" had phoned the Norton house the night before the murder, to announce the imminent arrival of a "package", they were quickly on the trail of Dina Rodrigues.
Baby Jordan's mother, Natasha, 22, and Dina moved in the same Cape Town southern suburbs social set. They are similar in many ways, but it is obvious that Rodrigues, a white, has enjoyed a more privileged upbringing than Norton, a coloured.
Two things they do share are a strong faith - both are devout Catholics - and their taste in men.
Both young women enjoyed torrid sexual relationships with handsome Neil Wilson, a 23-year-old teacher. He was Jordan's father and was involved in an ongoing tryst with Dina at the time of the child's murder.
Prosecutors insist Dina was furious when she discovered that her lover had fathered a child with a coloured woman. The state says she began plotting to have the baby killed.
The jealous Rodrigues allegedly drove to a taxi rank in Cape Town and simply asked around for people willing to commit a crime in return for cash.
The police claim that this is the way things work in the world of Dina Rodrigues: there will always be black people who take taxis willing to kill a coloured baby if a white woman pays them enough.
The Cape High Court has already heard that she promised four men - Sipho Mfwaze, 33, Mongezi Bobotyane, 22, Zanethamba Gwada, 18, and a 16-year-old youth - a grand total of R10 000 to end the life of little Jordan.
Judge Basheer Waglay has also been told that Rodrigues prepared the "package" to be delivered to the Norton house herself and even wrote out a courier waybill that she had obtained at her job in a novelty-toy company.
An expert has confirmed that the fingerprints of Rodrigues and two of the men she allegedly hired at the taxi rank were found on that waybill at the scene of the murder. Rodrigues now claims that those prints were planted by cops.
Neil Wilson has testified that he is scared of his former lover, Rodrigues, and that she told him that she had paid R10 000 for "it all to go away".
Indeed, Wilson may have good reason to be frightened. Months after the murder, Dina had her bail revoked for sending him threatening messages.
And just 10 days ago, Dina's Johannesburg-based brother, Orlando, was arrested and charged for allegedly running his finger across his neck at Wilson in a threatening gesture at court.