The two men jailed for killing six-month-old baby Jordan-Leigh Norton are expected to apply for parole in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The two, Zanethemba Gwada and Bonginkosi Sigenu, together with mastermind Dina Rodrigues, Sipho Mfazwe, and Mongezi Bobotyane were found guilty of the baby’s 2005 murder in a trial that sparked national outrage.

Jordan Leigh was stabbed once in the neck.

After a 15-month-long trial, Rodrigues, Mfazwe and Bobotyane were sentenced to life behind bars. The two men were sentenced to a further 10 years for armed robbery.

Gwada and Sigenu were handed jail terms of 15 years for their part in the murder and robbery.

The Norton family planned to ensure the two are not given parole after only a decade behind bars.
‘They took a baby’

Baby Jordan’s grandfather Vernon told News24 last month that the hitmen did not deserve early release.

“The fact that they are still alive is their second chance. These men did not steal a car or take a TV, they took a baby’s life,” he said.

“The personal and emotional trauma we have been through is indescribable. They will one day get to walk out of prison and live their lives. We will never get Jordan back.”

The baby was killed in the family’s Lansdowne, Cape Town, home on June 15, 2005. The men gained access to the home by pretending to be from a courier company delivering a parcel.

Rodrigues was convicted of hiring the four men. She met them at a taxi rank and paid them R10 000 for the murder.

Jordan Leigh was the daughter of Natasha Norton and Neil Wilson, who was Rodrigues’s boyfriend at the time.

In papers filed with the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2013, Rodrigues said she had been “deeply infatuated” with Wilson and wanted the baby out of their relationship.

A Facebook fan page to encourage the public to comment on why the two should remain behind bars was created on in May.

The public was urged to submit in writing, to babyjordanmail@gmail.com, reasons why parole should be denied.

The letters would be presented during the parole process. News24