[Normally Indians in South Africa are not big into crime. But this is a particularly sad one which caught the nation’s imagination. A young white woman was abducted and randomed… and her parents did pay the R50,000 ransom… but the young Indian guy who abducted her… murdered her anyway. This story is about the last minutes of her life.

The culprit, of course deserves the death penalty – without question. But… Justice in this country is rarely served… and when it is… it is normally by accident. Jan]

Donovan Moodley stripped Leigh Matthews naked and then shot her in the back of her head.

This was submitted in an indictment handed in by the state at the Wynberg magistrate’s court on Thursday morning.

The details of Leigh’s final moments were brought to light in a summary of substantial facts submitted as part of the indictment.

It laid to rest a long-asked question of how long Leigh remained alive after her kidnapping.

The appearance still seemed an emotional one for the Matthews family
It appeared from the allegations that moments after Moodley received the ransom from her father Rob Matthews, the 21-year-old girl was murdered.

She was taken, according the the indictment, to a veld near Walkerville, ordered by Moodley to undress completely before he shot her at point-blank range in the back of her head behind her left ear.

On Thursday Moodley finally faced full details of the criminal charges he will face when his murder trial goes ahead in the Johannesburg High Court on July 25.

He is currently accused of kidnapping, extortion, robbery with aggravating circumstances and murder.

When he was asked to inspect the charges, he showed no fear, remorse or emotion of any kind.

Moodley, prison number 20427983, merely scanned the first page of the 14-page indictment, where the counts against him were listed.

Further in the document was a chilling explanation by the state of how he allegedly planned to kidnap and murder the student from Bond University for a ransom.

It’s alleged that on July 6 last year, three days before Leigh was kidnapped, Moodley booked himself into the Formula One hotel in Bramley Park, Sandton, to use as a base.

It detailed how he called her family for a ransom, arranged a meeting with her father for the money handover.

It also detailed how the anxious father misunderstood the directions, drove to the wrong place and how Moodley eventually approached him in his car at a filling station.

In the dead of night Moodley tapped on the back window of Rob Matthew’s car and instructed him to toss out an envelope containing the R50 000 cash ransom.

It’s believed that at the time Leigh was still bound in the back of Moodley’s car.

Minutes later he drove her to a secluded spot, where he murdered her.

Before he did this he insisted she strip naked and cover herself with a blanket.

He then shot her at point-blank range in the back of the head, next to her left ear.

He then pulled her body into the bushes, shot her another three times, took her clothes and possessions and returned to the Formula One hotel in Sandton where he slept for the night.

Later near his home he burnt her clothes and possessions. But some time later he returned to find Leigh’s tanzanite ring which her parents had given to her on her 21st birthday, the day before she was murdered.

On Thursday morning this summary of substantial facts was not read out in court.

Yet the appearance still seemed an emotional one for the Matthews family.

This was their first time back in court since the first appearance since the matter was referred from the Randburg magistrate’s court.

When asked the reason for the Matthews family’s appearance on Thursday, Leigh’s father Rob merely said he had come to court: “I suppose just to really speak to my daughter.”

Before the gates to the court building were opened both the Matthews and Moodley families waited outside.

They stood in two different groups, the Moodley family ignoring the presence of the Matthews.

For the first time Moodley’s aunt appeared and when she was approached by the media she denied even knowing him.

Sharon Matthews, dressed all in white, stood surrounded by a circle of friends who offered her words of comfort.

At 8.30am when the gates were meant to open Sharon walked towards them and waited patiently for the security to let her through.

The case was set down for trial on July 25 in the Johannesburg High Court starting at 8.30am.

Summary of facts

This is a summary of “substantial facts” presented to Donovan Moodley in court on Thursday:

Both the deceased (Leigh Matthews) and the accused (Moodley) were students at Bond University in Sandton during 2004.

On July 6, 2004 the accused booked in at the Bramley Park Formula One hotel in Sandton. He used this hotel as a base from where he planned the kidnapping. The accused visited the Bond University daily from July 6 to July 9, 2004 in search of a victim to kidnap and murder for a ransom.

The deceased attended classes during the morning of Friday 9 July 2004 at the Bond University. After classes, just after 10am, she went to her car, a Toyota Tazz, which was in the parking area.

The accused then approached her, pretending to need a lift. The deceased agreed to assist him and he got into the vehicle.

Once they had left the premises of the Bond University, the accused produced a licensed firearm and, by force, took over control of the vehicle. He then drove her to a Randburg park, tied her up and blindfolded her.

The accused then drove her back towards the university.

The accused had earlier parked his vehicle at the back of Bond University. He now returned to his vehicle and put the deceased in the back. The accused then drove off with the deceased to a piece of veld in the vicinity of Walkerville.

The deceased’s mother, Sharon Matthews, had been looking for the deceased. When she phoned the deceased’s cellphone the accused answered and said he had kidnapped her daughter.

The accused was later phoned by the deceased’s father, Robert Matthews. He informed Mr Matthews that he had kidnapped the deceased and demanded a ransom of R300 000. He threatened to kill the deceased should Mr Matthews not comply.

Mr Matthews acquired the requested ransom money and was then contacted telephonically by the accused towards the evening of Friday July 9. It was agreed that Mr Matthews would pay a ransom of R50 000. The accused instructed Mr Matthews to drive on the N1 highway towards Bloemfontein and to meet him at 8pm at a split in the road. Mr Matthews misunderstood the directions and drove to the Grasmere toll plaza. The accused then phoned him and instructed Mr Matthews to turn around and drive back through the Grasmere toll plaza. He had to stop at a bridge close to an Engen filling station and then had to flash the headlights of his vehicle twice.

Mr Matthews obliged and stopped as he was instructed. After some time the accused tapped on his back window and instructed him to drop the money from the window. Mr Matthews then threw a brown envelope containing R50000 cash from his window. The accused took the money and told Mr Matthews to drive off.

The accused returned to his vehicle and drove the deceased to a secluded place in the vicinity of Walkerville where he had planned to kill her.

The accused instructed the deceased to undress completely. He then handed her a blanket and instructed her to turn her back. As she tried to comply, he shot her at point-blank range in the back of her head close to her left ear.

The accused then pulled the body of the deceased over a short distance into some bushes. There he fired a shot at close range into the neck of the deceased and two shots into the chest of the deceased. After he had killed her, he left her body in a piece of veld in the vicinity of Walkerville.

This article was originally published on page 1 of Daily News on February 17, 2005

Source: Independent Online (IOL)
URL: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articlei…/p>