Cape Town - Eighteen years after Dina Rodrigues planned the murder of six-month-old baby Jordan-Leigh Norton, the Department of Correctional Services have confirmed she will be eligible for a parole hearing in eight years.
Rodrigues was convicted for masterminding the murder along with Zanethemba Gwada, Bonginkosi Sigenu, Sipho Mfazwe and Mongezi Bobotyane.
Gwada and Bonginkosi, were granted parole in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The Norton family declined to comment on the parole proceedings.
Spokesperson for the Department of Correctional Services, Singabakho Nxumalo, said Rodrigues’ hearing would take place on December 27, 2031.
Sources who recently visited Pollsmoor Prison where Rodrigues is presently imprisoned revealed the brunette has become a hairdresser behind bars and is cheerful.
“She does everyone’s hair there in Pollsmoor,” said the woman who cannot be identified. “She looks good and healthy.”
Rodrigues was moved from the Worcester Female Prison to Pollsmoor.
While behind bars Rodrigues completed her degree in education in 2012 and became a teacher at the Worcester Female Prison.
In 2013 she went onto graduate along with 159 inmates with a computer literacy and life skills training at Pollsmoor Prison.
She was also awarded a BComm degree in 2008 and received a diploma for basic education in 2010.
The Jordan-Leigh Norton killing
Jordan-Leigh was killed inside her home in Lansdowne on June 15, 2005.
Rodrigues had hired the men, who pretended to be from a courier company and offered them R10 000 for the murder.
Rodrigues had been dating Jordan-Leigh’s father - Neil Wilson.
She explained that she couldn’t accept the fact of the child’s existence, had imagined the infant’s demise and had confessed via the affidavit to hiring someone to kill the baby.
She added she had told Wilson she had paid R 10 000 to make the problem go away and that he was deeply shocked and that she later realised the evil she had done.
The trial carried on for 15 months and Rodrigues , Mfazwe and Bobotyane were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, DCS has remained mum on Najwa Petersen’s parole hearings which took place in November 2022. DCS previously said she would be eligible for parole in November 2022.
Petersen was sentenced to 28 years after being convicted of being the mastermind behind the murder of her husband, singer Taliep Petersen.