/ 17 November 2009

Donovan Moodley bids to get conviction overturned

Donovan Moodley, convicted of killing student Leigh Matthews in 2005, is expected to begin his bid to have his conviction overturned on a technicality in the South Gauteng High Court on Wednesday.

Superintendent Piet Byleveld, who investigated the murder of Matthews, a former Bond University student, confirmed that Moodley would appear before Judge Joop Labuschagne.

Labuschagne, who retired after finding Moodley guilty and sentencing him to life for the murder, will return to the bench hear the application.

Labuschagne sentenced Moodley to an additional 15 years for kidnapping Matthews and 10 years for extorting a R50 000 ransom from her family.

Moodley is going back to court with claims that Labuschagne committed a material irregularity when convicting him.

In his notice for application for a special entry, Moodley said some of the admissions made in his confession were contradictory.

He said it was therefore Labuschagne’s responsibility to clear these up before passing sentence.

Moodley, who hopes for leniency, has already filed a late application for leave to appeal against his sentence, arguing that the life sentence was ”shockingly inappropriate”.

During his trial in 2005, Moodley admitted to planning and executing the kidnapping of Matthews in July 2004.

He held her for several hours, took R50 000 ransom money from her father and then shot and killed her to stop her from later identifying him. — Sapa