Judge Delize Smith sentenced JP Malan in the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in Palm Ridge, to life for strangling Blom to death.

He was sentenced to an additional 10 years for obstruction of justice, seven years for four counts of fraud - three of those years running concurrently - 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, and 18 months each, running concurrently, for five counts of identity theft.

His co-accused, Maruschka Robinson, was sentenced to 10 years for being an accessory to murder after the fact, and the same sentences as Malan for the counts of fraud, and the count of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Both Malan and Robinson were declared unfit to possess a firearm. After the sentences were handed down, Robinson's lawyer, Jesse Penton, indicated his client intended to appeal the 15 year sentence regarding robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Blom's body was found in the boot of his car on September 22 2013 in the parking lot of the Montecasino entertainment complex in Fourways.

Smith said the pair's pursuit of Blom's money - drugging him and stealing his bank card regularly - showed calculated and planned callousness towards a man who took Robinson in with no expectation of being repaid.

"It is clear that nothing would stop accused number 2 [Malan] to succeed in his endeavour to get the card and the money, and accused number 1 [Robinson] was a willing partner in this," Smith said reading her judgment.

Referring to CCTV footage of Robinson and Malan being at Montecasino following Blom's death, Smith said: "They are happy, they are laughing, they are high-fiving each other. It seemed they don't have a care in the world, well knowing that Mr Blom is in a boot deceased."

- News24.com