OMPHITLHETSE MOOKI
DonOvan Moodley, who told the court he realised that a “very nice girl died”, shared some tender moments with his mother Mary during his attempt to get his murder conviction set aside.
The parents of the “very nice girl” – the murdered Leigh Matthews – were forced to listen for most of the second day while the convicted killer told the court that if he had acted differently, she would be alive today.
Moodley told the Johannesburg High Court yesterday that his actions were not honourable and he was embarrassed that he had weaved a web of lies, changing his story many times and failing to tell the “real truth” about events surrounding the 2004 murder of the Bond University student.
Painting himself as a “defenceless man crushed by the mighty State” and the “poisonous tree planted by (investigating officer Piet) Byleveld”, Moodley presented this argument before Judge Joop Labuschagne.
A retrial would enable him to “expose a web of lies” told by Byleveld and show how the top cop – now a private investigator – had manipulated evidence and tortured him into confessing to the murder.
“Yes, I lied, and I’m sorry for that. My actions have not been honourable. I have to live with this,” said the once plump man whose sunken cheeks are indicative of the strain the seven years behind bars have had on him.
With a cracking voice, he later looked at Judge Labuschagne and said “my life is in your hands”. This was a reference to gospel musician Kirk Franklin’s song My Life Is In Your Hands.
Moodley kept throwing in lines such as “It is the light of day that will allow me to never ever give up” and “Joy comes in the morning”.
As he had done during his arguments on Wednesday he again attacked Byleveld.
“You cannot choose which part of the confession is true and which one is not true. Finality can only be reached when we know what happened, when we know the truth,” he said.
This was in reference to a confession he said Byleveld had edited, omitting all reference to three drug peddlers he claimed had masterminded Matthews’s kidnapping and murder.
He also attacked State prosecutor Zaais van Zyl, saying he was lapping up the limelight as he had declared back in 2005 that the case would be the highlight of his career.
“He (Van Zyl) has shown little credibility in this process.”
But Van Zyl, who appeared annoyed by Moodley’s repetition of points he had already presented in court on Wednesday, asked Judge Labuschagne to dismiss Moodley’s application as it was ridden with improbabilities.
“There is no proof of any of the alleged meetings with the threesome, as there is also no proof of their existence,” Van Zyl said.
He dismissed Moodley’s claims that he had handed the men his firearm because they had threatened to kill members of his family. He also disputed Moodley’s claims that Byleveld had destroyed all evidence that could exonerate him.
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