Moodley stuns court
2005-07-26 08:21
Johannesburg - Virtually nobody expected it.
When Donovan Moodley, 25, hesitated slightly and whispered "Guilty" in a hoarse voice when asked to plead on Monday on charges of blackmail, kidnapping and murder, everybody in courtroom 2A of the Johannesburg High Court looked surprised - that is, all but his fiancé Yeshika Singh.
Superintendent Piet Byleveld, top detective and investigating officer in the case, shook his head in disbelief, state prosecutor Zaais van Zyl's head snapped up and the family of the murdered Leigh Matthews appeared stunned.
Even Moodley's sister, Michal Pillay, and his father, Stephen Moodley, were shocked.
Just Singh stared ahead, stony faced.
Advocates were still expressing the hope earlier this month that the State would get a conviction and speculation had it that the trial would last for up to eight weeks to hear all the witnesses.
Moodley's legal representative, Johan Pretorius, told the media before the proceedings on Monday that they did not have a "strategy" and that they would decided on the day "what to do".
But Moodley had apparently already made up his mind to confess.
Or did he?
When judge Joop Labuschagne asked him whether anyone forced him to plead guilty, he was quiet for a few seconds, hung his head, sighed and then said: "No".
In his description of the murder, he did not refer to the State's allegation that he had frozen Matthews's body for eleven days before dumping it in the field near Walkerville.
Van Zyl indicated that testimony to this effect would be heard on Tuesday when argument in mitigation and aggravation of sentence would be heard.
Byleveld is expected to testify on this topic.
If Judge Labuschagne finds that there are no mitigating circumstances regarding the murder of Matthews, Moodley could spend at least 25 years behind bars.
In the process, he would take the reason for his horror action and the reason why he decided at the last moment to confess with him to prison.