Johannesburg - The former couple accused of murdering and storing the body of Dustan Blom in the Montecasino parking lot two years ago have been dubbed South Africa’s own “modern-day Bonnie and Clyde”.
Alleged drug dealer JP Malan and his ex-girlfriend, former stripper Maruschka Robinson, were to find out on Tuesday if they have been found guilty.
They have been charged with robbing Blom, murdering him for his bank cards and then leaving his body in the boot of his own vehicle at the centre’s parking lot.
On Monday, prosecutor Zaais van Zyl tore into the couple during closing arguments at the high court sitting in Palm Ridge.
Van Zyl said the pair were criminals who had paired up with the intention to defraud Blom, and when their target wised up to their scheme, plotted his murder.
And while Robinson’s lawyer, Jesse Penton, has spent months defending her, even he admitted on Monday his client was “no angel” and had used Blom as a benefactor, much like “milking a cow”.
“However, this doesn’t make her a murderess,” Penton told the court.
While working at a strip club, the Lollipop Lounge, Robinson had met Blom shortly after his wife’s death during childbirth. She moved into his home without paying rent within months.
It was here that she and her then boyfriend, Malan, allegedly concocted a scheme to defraud Blom, drugging his drink, stealing his bank cards and phone, withdrawing money and then deleting the bank notification SMSes before Blom woke up.
While both accused have pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges, they blame each other for Blom’s death in September 2013.
Robinson claims the pair were unable to drug Blom on the night of his death, and Malan had suggested a choke hold he had learnt from TV wrestlers to knock him out. Blom died from asphyxiation and the pair disposed of the body.
However, Malan claims he was called in only after Blom’s death to help remove the body, believing Blom had died from an overdose.
On Monday, Van Zyl said the State believed the accused were lying, and that they had a common purpose to kill Blom because he was trying to turn his life around.
The prosecutor told the court that Blom had met another woman shortly before his death, who wanted him to attend a detox clinic. Malan and Robinson had killed him to prevent their “goose that laid the golden eggs” from escaping their clutches.