The accused Maruschka Robinson and ex-boyfriend JP Malan sat with his head bowed slightly downward as the couple waited to hear their fate in the Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court today (26 June).
After going through the details of her judgement, Smith found Malan guilty of Dustin Blom’s murder with Robinson as an accessory. The pair was also found guilty of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
Smith, presiding over a case that has stretched over a two-year period, indicated shortly after entering the courtroom that it was inconceivable that Blom would have allowed the accused to take thousands of rands from him.
Blom’s body was found in the boot of his car on 22 September 2013. Police promptly arrested former stripper Maruschka Robinson and her then boyfriend JP Malan.
Investigations uncovered text messages which appeared to implicate the former couple; which Smith promptly brought to the court’s attention.
“[These] SMSs prove there was always urgency when Blom was drugged and relieved of his bank card,” said the judge.
Robinson met Blom while she was a stripper at the Lollipop Lounge in 2013, and had moved into his house rent free within months. This was when she and then-boyfriend Malan began drugging Blom with the intention of taking his bank card and drawing significant amounts of money from his account. Smith described Blom as ‘the goose who lay the golden egg,’ ready to spread his wings and fly to Bali before he was killed.
“Blom didn’t care what he spent; he clearly didn’t have control over his finances.”
The case has been postponed to 18 August for sentencing.
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