Thumb-print row rattles Dina
February 17, 2006 Edition 1
Di Caelers
Accused baby-killer Dina Rodrigues will have three days to contemplate her fate before her defence attorney fights her case on Monday after fingerprint evidence linked her to two of her co-accused.
Cross-examination by Charles Simon, for Rodrigues's four co-accused, did little or nothing in the Cape High Court yesterday afternoon to shake the evidence presented by the calm and confident fingerprint expert for the State, Inspector Jan Bester.
But Rodrigues's attorney John van der Berg, who has had his own expert taking copious notes for the past two days, may still spring a few surprises.
His appeal for more time before his cross-examination won over Judge Basheer Waglay, who also agreed to his request to see the original waybill left at the Norton home on the day of Jordan Leigh Norton's murder.
This was in spite of arguments from both the judge and prosecutor Nicolette Bell that Bester had already testified that all but two of the fingerprints he had found had already disappeared.
Rodrigues and her co-accused, Zanethemba Gwada, Sipho Mfazwe, Mongezi Bobotyane and a 16-year-old youth, have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated theft, and illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Rodrigues pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of intimidation over allegedly sending threatening SMSes to Neil Wilson, her former boyfriend and Jordan's biological father.
Over the past two days, Bester has presented meticulous evidence that he found fingerprints from Rodrigues, Gwada and Mfazwe on the waybill, a piece of evidence integral to the trial.
He told the court he had matched the right thumb-print of Mfazwe, the left thumb-print of Gwada, and that Rodrigues's right thumb-print had been found twice on the waybill.
This was the first time in the 11-day trial that Rodrigues has been inextricably linked to at least two of her co-accused.
In respect of Rodrigues's prints, he had confirmed the standard seven points of comparison, plus an extra two. In respect of Gwada and Mfazwe, he found the standard seven points each, and a combined nine extra points of comparison.
It is the State's case that Rodrigues masterminded Jordan's murder and paid her co-accused to carry out the killing. Under the pretext of delivering a parcel, they allegedly gained entry to the Norton's Lansdowne home and killed the baby.
Bester and Simon found themselves at cross purposes during cross-examination when it became clear Simon had misheard him saying there were no "inexplicable differences" in the comparisons between the prints on the waybill, and those taken officially from the two accused Simon is representing.
Bester got abrupt when Simon asked him to confirm that he had not explained the extra two points of identification in respect of Gwada.
"It was not necessary for me," he told Simon. "Seven points were enough for me."
When Simon went further to ask if Bester would use the two extra points if any of the original seven fell away, Bester was again curt.
"They can't be argued away," he said. "They are there. They exist."
Bester also revealed under cross-examination that he had been unable to lift any further prints from the house or from the parcel, but he said this was not unusual.
"For me it is not strange not to be able to find fingerprints," he said. "I have attended scenes of housebreakings where I couldn't find a single print."
Rodrigues became increasingly uncomfortable in the dock, sitting amid her co-accused, during Bester's evidence.
She blinked rapidly, drank repeatedly from a glass of water and chewed the inside of her mouth.
She also turned around to look at her mother Mary and other relatives as Bester gave his evidence.
Earlier in the week, courier's assistant Jandry Seekoei told the court he had given Rodrigues two blank waybills two weeks before the murder.
It has been established that the waybill found at the Norton home, on which the fingerprints were found, was one of them.
Vodacom and handwriting experts are expected to testify next week.The trial continues on Monday.
dic@incape.co.za
