Montecasino Murder Case Near Closure
The South African police believe that they are close to solving the murder case of a man found in the boot of a car parked at the top Gauteng gambling establishment, Montecasino. The Randburg Magistrate’s Court heard this week that the state is in possession of a confession by a woman who says that she murdered Dustan Blom together with her boyfriend Jean-Pierre Malan last year.
Blom’s decomposing body was found in the parking garage of the Montecasino venue in September 2013 in the victim’s own car. Security guards followed the source of an overpowering smell in the car park and discovered the grisly remains of Blom.
Former stripper, Maruschka Robinson was arrested for the murder on September 24th and her partner, Malan was arrested two days later.
Prosecutor Yusuf Baba told the court that he had “no objection to releasing the confession made by Maruschka Robinson”. The state would hand defense lawyers information pointing out the scene of the crime as described by Robinson in her confession, including photos of where it took place exactly, a post mortem report and a toxicology report.
The state wants to prove that this is a case of premeditated murder and that Robinson had access to Blom’s personal documents such as cards, passports and ID book after helping him obtain a release from a drinking and driving offence last year.
The state will also introduce evidence that will pin Robinson and Malan to the case, including CCTV footage from Montecasino, as well as four different identity documents used by Malan and his fake driver’s license.
According to autopsy reports, Dustin Blom was strangled to death. The 36 year old was an alleged drug trafficker and his murder was pre-meditated. Robinson confessed that Blom was strangled at his home before the pair dumped his body in the parking lot of the Johannesburg casino in the boot of his car.
After his murder, Robinson and Malan used the victim’s credit cards to withdraw R35,000 from his bank account.
Prosecutors believe that they have a powerful case against Robinson, thanks to the CCTV footage handed to them by Montecasino, as well as cellphone recordings of conversations and her own confession implicating herself and Maln.
The body was left in the car for two days before being discovered by security staff.
