By Alex Eliseev and Amy Musgrave
Donovan Moodley was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for the murder of Johannesburg student Leigh Matthews.
In addition he will serve 15 years in effect for kidnapping Matthews and extorting a R50 000 ransom from her family.
"The crimes were callous, heinous and beyond comprehension... He has ruined his own life and has devastated the lives of his own family and that of the Matthews family," Johannesburg High Court Judge Joop Labuschagne said in pronouncing sentence.
| 'I respect and accept the conclusion that the judiciary has come to' |
He found that somebody else "must have" helped Moodley transport Matthews' body and that he was "protecting" that person or people.
"It is clear that the deceased was not killed where she was found. It is clear he (Moodley) is untruthful and was not candid with the court."
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Remorse was normally shown with the accused stepping into the witness-box and saying sorry - something Moodley had not done. "I cannot find the accused has shown remorse," said Labuschagne.
Moodley, 25, confessed last Monday to kidnapping Matthews on July 9 last year, extorting money from her parents, and killing her in cold blood. Labuschagne found him guilty on all three counts.
The state used policemen, scientists and a pathologist to show Moodley had also stored the body in a refrigerator for 12 days before staging the crime scene in Walkerville.
Witnesses testified Matthews' body was not decomposed when it was discovered, and contended that the position of cartridge cases did not match Moodley's recollection of the shooting and that over four litres of blood were missing.
While Moodley's age and the fact that he was a first-time offender weighed heavily in mitigation, these factors were far outweighed by the aggravating circumstances of the kidnapping and murder, said Labuschagne.
People - particularly women - were no longer safe on the streets or in the sanctuary of their own homes and the community was sick and tired of violent crimes.
Labuschagne said he was forced to impose a sentence which would both deter Moodley from repeating the offence and deter others from committing a similar offence.
Spectators, who queued for an hour before sentencing began on Thursday, pushed and shoved for seats in the courtroom.
Wearing a black pin-striped suit, Moodley stared in front of him and down at the ground as sentence was pronounced. He will serve a life term for the murder - 25 years in effect. He will also serve another 15 years for the kidnapping, to run concurrently with the 10 years for extortion.
Matthews' parents Rob and Sharon and her sister Karen kept their composure as the sentence was read out, but Moodley's girlfriend Yeshika Singh burst into tears.
Moodley shook hands with his family, friends and Singh as he walked past them on his way down to the holding cells. His family stayed behind in the courtroom afterwards to comfort each other.
His father Stephen, who would not speak to the media, said he would give an interview to a Johannesburg talk radio station later on Thursday.
Singh said later in a statement that it had been "a long and difficult" 10 months for her.
"I respect and accept the conclusion that the judiciary has come to.
"I pray that God will continue to strengthen us in all this time as we go from here," she said, accusing the media of "grossly" violating her rights as an individual and asking for her privacy to be respected. - Sapa
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