Moodley buried by an avalanche of lies

"I am ecstatic. I am over the moon. Hopefully, I will never see him again. I am just very, very happy."

With these words, Sharon Matthews summed up her emotions after her daughter's killer lost his bid for a retrial in the Johannesburg High Court.

For the Matthews family, it has been an eight-year nightmare, which began when 20-year-old Leigh was kidnapped and murdered by Donovan Moodley.

Standing a few metres from Matthews outside the court were Moodley's parents, Steven and Mary, with their pastor, Cecil Pinkham, their heads bowed in prayer.

When approached by journalists, Steven Moodley merely said: "Sorry, not today."

It had taken retired judge Joop Labuschagne less than two hours to dismiss Moodley's application to have his conviction and sentence set aside and for a retrial.

"In my view, the present application is a desperate attempt not to tell the truth but to run away from it," he said.

Moodley has been, as the judge said, trying to run away from the justice meted out to him after he had, on July 25 2005, pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and extortion.

He had admitted killing Leigh by shooting her four times, and dumping her naked body in a field in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg.

Labuschagne sentenced Moodley to life in prison for her murder, 15 years for the kidnapping and 10 years for extortion.

Moodley lodged several court applications, but Labuschagne dismissed them all.

In December 2009, Moodley applied to appeal against his sentence, but this was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal and then the Constitutional Court.

Yesterday, Labuschagne said the application for a retrial was an abuse of court.

Moodley had, in his own words, admitted to having been the perpetrator of heinous, atrocious crimes and that Leigh's killing was a senseless crime, the judge said.

Moodley had also admitted after the murder that he and he alone had committed the crimes.

Labuschagne dismissed Moodley's latest version of events as "far-fetched and fanciful", and criticised his "scandalous allegations and lies" that prosecutor Zaais van Zyl and investigator Piet Byleveld had plotted evidence against him.

Labuschagne said Moodley's supposed true version - that three drug dealers had promised to pay R1-million if he helped them kidnap a student from a wealthy family - was riddled with improbabilities and was ridiculous.

Describing Moodley as a "self-confessed liar", Labuschagne said he could not believe any intelligent person would go along with such lies.

Moodley's submissions that Leigh's father had changed his statement had no substance and were disrespectful and cruel, to say the least, the judge said.

Labuschagne said Moodley had failed to explain to the court why he had burnt Leigh's clothes.

The only inference to be drawn was that he was trying to destroy evidence, said Labuschagne.

After the murder Moodley had carried on with life, got engaged and went on a trip to Durban.

"In my view, the applicant, now sees where the shoe pinches and has now shaped his version," he said.

When Moodley had entered the court, his mother, Mary, had shouted: "Vultures, vultures, vultures," at photographers.

Waving to her son, she said: "I am here, I am here."

Moodley waved, smiled and sat down.

For two days last week, Moodley had tried to convince the court to reopen his trial, saying he wanted to tell the court the truth.

Leigh's father, Rob Matthews, said the judge's verdict marked a great day for justice.

"I am happy, even though today does not really bring closure, [it] brings another milestone," he said.

Prosecutor Van Zyl did not want to be drawn on how much Moodley's applications had cost the state.

"There should be no cost to justice. A case should never be abandoned because it is going to cost the state R10 instead of R1. It would be irresponsible for me to give an estimation."

Byleveld, who was accompanied to court by his wife, Elize, said he had no doubt in his mind that Moodley was "guilty as hell".