Long terms for Blom’s killer and girlfriend
Greed behind callous act, says judge
THE MURDER of Joburg man Dustan Blom and the subsequent stuffing of his body in the boot of his car was a callous and calculated act motivated by greed.
While his body was decomposing in the boot, his killer JP Malan and Maruschka Robinson, who helped him dispose of the corpse, showed no remorse as they went about withdrawing money from his bank accounts.
“It was found that drugs played a big role in their day-today lives, but at no stage did the two say it was an addiction that caused them to do that to Blom. It was not because of addiction but greed. Enough was simply not enough for them.”
These were the scathing words of Judge Delize Smith yesterday at the high court sitting in Palm Ridge as she sentenced the pair for the robbery and murder of Blom.
Malan received a life sentence. Robinson, a stripper and his former girlfriend, was convicted of being an accessory to the fact and sentenced to 29 years behind bars.
Blom was drugged, robbed and killed two years ago.
The pair used his credit card to buy items from various shops, then parked the car with the body in the boot at Montecasino in Fourways.
Judge Smith said that while Blom’s twins were spared the trauma of knowing the manner in which their father died as they were infants when he was killed, the same couldn’t be said for his 15-year-old son, who was 13 at the time.
“His oldest child will have to live with the knowledge of the terrible way in which his father died,” Judge Smith said.
She said CCTV cameras had captured the pair looking happy, laughing and high-fiving each other at Montecasino.
“It was as if they had no care in the world while Blom’s body was in the boot,” she said.
Blom, whose wife had died while giving birth to their twins, had given Robinson free accommodation and allowed her to use his bank cards.
“Blom wasn’t expecting anything from her,” the judge said.
She said Robinson was aware that Blom was severely distraught after his wife’s death and she had stayed with him to help him through that difficult time. However, she and Malan used his grief to their advantage, betraying his trust by concocting a plan to drug and withdraw money from his bank account for their personal use.
Judge Smith said Malan could have withdrawn the money and didn’t have to strangle him.
“This was the murder of a man who had done only good deeds to Malan and Robinson; they abused his hospitality.”
An overjoyed Julie Padgett, Blom’s younger sister and only sibling, hugged the prosecution team. “Thank you, thank you,” she said to advocates Zaais van Zyl and Steven Rubin.
Blom’s best friend, Ryan Pickford, said that although he was happy with the sentence, he was disappointed that Malan never took the stand to tell the truth regarding what happened that day.
Someone else who couldn’t stop smiling was the investigating officer, Constable Sthembile Mthembu, who said he never slept because he wanted to complete the investigation.
“I am very happy today and would like to thank the officers who were involved in the investigation as well as my commander,” he said.
It was as if they had no care in the world while Blom’s body
was in the boot