Johannesburg - The two people convicted of the Montecasino body-in-the-boot murder have been told they lacked genuine remorse for their grim plot and may not appeal against their lengthy sentences.
Dustan Blom was found dead in the boot of his car in the Montecasino parking lot in Fourways in September 2013. The prime suspects were ex-stripper Maruschka Robinson, who Blom had thought was his friend, and her then boyfriend, alleged drug dealer JP Malan.
The pair had been defrauding Blom for months before his death. One night, Malan strangled him, and the pair stuffed his body into the boot of his car and abandoned it at Montecasino.
In June, the two were found guilty – Malan of the murder and Robinson for being an accessory to the crime. Both were found guilty for the robbery with aggravating circumstances that claimed Blom’s life. Malan was sentenced to life imprisonment and Robinson to 29 years.
On Thursday in the high court sitting in Palm Ridge, Malan applied for leave to appeal against the sentence, while Robinson wished to appeal her conviction on the armed robbery and the 29-year sentence.
Robinson said another court would believe the sentence was shockingly harsh, and would likely acquit her on the robbery conviction.
Her lawyer, Jesse Penton, said that in her sentencing, Judge Delize Smith hadn’t taken into account Robinson’s circumstances at the time of the murder, though he didn’t elaborate.
Meanwhile, Malan’s lawyer, JP Marais, argued that another court would have been more lenient with his client, and his murder confession to a social worker after the trial had concluded was a sign of remorse.
Prosecutor Zaais van Zyl argued the application had failed to bring new facts to the case.
Judge Smith ruled that another court wouldn’t have provided lesser sentences for the pair, or that Robinson was not guilty of the robbery charge. She believed that the pair had shown remorse only after it was too late, with Robinson confessing only when presented with the State’s overwhelming evidence, and Malan only much later.
She denied the application.
The Star