Murderer Donovan Moodley sat emotionless when details of Leigh Matthews’s autopsy report was heard in the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday.
Pathologist Hendrik Scholtz took the court through a graphic description of findings that led him to opine that Matthews had died a week before the discovery of her body; that her body had been kept in a cold, closed space, possibly mechanically refrigerated; and that, at some point, she had been dragged by the feet.
This conclusion, illustrated to the court with photographs taken at the crime scene, was reached through indicators such as an absence of fly eggs and other larvae in her body, no small-animal activity and an absence of post-mortem gas formation.
Matthews’s parents appeared composed as Scholtz ran through his findings.
Moodley claims he killed Matthews at the spot in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg, where her body was found by a grass cutter.
Scholtz backed up his findings by explaining how ”blood sinks down to gravity” when one is dead, also known as lividity.
”The lividity in the buttocks is one of the indications that this body [Matthews] was not killed in this position.”
He added that marbling is the final stage of lividity, when the ”blood completely breaks up [which] causes staining of the blood-vessel wall”.
”The skin gets the appearance of a block of marble with veins running through [it],” said Scholtz.
Rigor mortis is the post-mortem stiffening of the muscles of the body, which is present up to 36 hours after death.
According to the autopsy report, Matthews had rigor motis present across all joints except across the shoulder joints, which were broken.
Scholtz said rigor mortis can persist after 36 hours in cold conditions of less than four degrees Celsius.
”It was my opinion that the body was either in a cold place or alternatively the body could have been there [at Walkerville] for less than 26 hours,” he told the court.
The autopsy report also stated: ”The toes of both feet and the soles of the feet show mummification and reddening as seen with freezer burn or hypothermia.”
As the pages of the report were referred to during Scholtz’s testimony, Moodley occasionally glanced towards his lawyers and caught glimpses of some of the photographs in it. His expression remained detached and didn’t reveal any remorse.
After lunch, Scholtz said Matthews’s body showed no signs of post-mortem sunburn. He explained that when one lies in the sun and becomes sunburnt, one’s blood regulates the heat and the burn is not severe like one would obtain from a hot stove. However, this does not happen once someone is dead and lying in the sun.
”Fluid will seep out … causing large blisters. There’s no evidence of post-mortem sunburn [on Matthews].”
He also came to the conclusion that Matthews had to have been killed shortly after she was kidnapped because he her hair was ”clean” and her nails in ”pristine condition” with a manicure.
How the money was spent
Donovan admitted he spent the money he extorted from Matthews’s parents on motorbike repairs and an engagement ring,
”Part of the ransom of R50 000 was deposited into my banking account and spent on odds and ends, as well as an engagement ring. Part of the money was used to pay off a debt incurred in respect of repairs to my Ducati motorbike,” he said at the hearing in mitigation of sentence.
On Monday, Moodley was found guilty of the kidnap of Matthews from Johannesburg’s Bond University, the extortion of a ransom from her parents and her murder. He had pleaded guilty to all three charges.
Moodley made several other confessions to speed up the process to ”show his feelings” and shorten the procedure.
”The crimes I have committed are heinous. As a result of my actions, the deceased was subjected to the most terrible fear and uncertainty throughout the day of the incident, up until the time she was killed by me.
”As a result of my actions, Mr and Mrs Matthews were also subjected to the utmost anxiety … It caused them to experience incomprehensible psychological anguish and suffering.
”My deeds, especially the killing of their daughter, was a senseless deed.
”The commission of the first two crimes was triggered by greed [kidnapping and extortion].”
When reporters sat too close to Moodley, he had his advocate tell the judge that he felt like a ”monkey in a cage” and the judge then ordered that the reporters move further back.
He glanced back at his family occasionally throughout the day and wrote extensive notes in his journal. Some of his family and friends even received a kiss on the cheek when they took their seats upon their return after the court adjourned for lunch.
As Moodley was walking back to his holding cell at the end of the day, he looked longingly at his family and friends and whispered ”I love you” to some of them. One of his family members whispered ”I’ll pray for you” just before Moodley disappeared.