Woman Convicted Of Hiring Hit Squad To Kill Lover’s Baby
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — A woman was convicted yesterday of hiring a hit squad to murder her lover’s baby daughter, ending a trial that had dominated headlines for months with details of South Africa’s first known contract killing of an infant. Dina Rodrigues was found guilty of murder for orchestrating the June 2005 killing of 6-month-old Jordan-Leigh Norton — her then-boyfriend’s child from a previous relationship.
The case has riveted South Africa — where an estimated 1,100 children are killed each year — in part because both the baby and Ms. Rodrigues were white and from privileged backgrounds. Most cases involving violence against children involve black and underprivileged defendants and victims.
High Court Judge Basheer Waglay also convicted four men of murder and robbery in the case. The four had been hired by Ms. Rodrigues for a total of $1,500 to commit the crime and posed as delivery men to gain access to the home of Jordan’s grandparents, prosecutors said.
They stabbed the infant in the neck and tried to make the murder look like a botched robbery, prosecutors said.
