Judgement was reserved on Wednesday in a plea for leniency by convicted killer Donovan Moodley in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
Judge Joop Labuschagne, who returned from retirement to preside over the matter, will hand down judgement next Wednesday.
Moodley returned to court after being sentenced to life for the murder of Bond University student Leigh Matthews in July 2004.
He was sentenced to an additional 15 years for her kidnapping and 10 years for extortion.
Moodley’s counsel advocate Charles Thomson argued that his client’s life sentence for murder was harsh because the crime was not proved to have been premeditated.
He said 15 years would have been suitable.
However, the state produced statements made by Moodley that he had planned a crime.
Visibly hurt, Matthews’s mother Sharon, who attended the hearing, silently sobbed as details of how her daughter was murdered were restated in court.
Moodley also attributed the harsh sentence to the media attention that the case received. — Sapa