Rob Matthews' statement
2005-07-28 17:11
Johannesburg - Rob Matthews, father of murdered student Leigh, has made a full statemnt in Johannesburg High Court.
This is what he told the court: "My Lord, as a family we respectfully ask you to consider the following when passing sentence for the crimes perpetrated by Mr Moodley.
"I don't know if anything in the world can prepare a family for what we have gone through in the past 13 months.
"We have tried, however, to deal with these events as best we can.
"There is no doubt in our minds that the support from so many people is what gets us up in the morning.
Having listened to Mr Moodley's confession and the proceedings in court for the past few days, it is difficult to believe anyone can be so cruel, calculating, heartless and devoid of a conscience.
"At face value, Mr Moodley seems to be a person who comes from a Christian background and yet is able to traumatise people to the extent that he has, and devalue life the way he has.
Took the role of the older sibling
"Mr Moodley has deprived us of a daughter, a best friend and a sister.
"Leigh and her older sister, Karen, were separated in age by only 13 months, but anyone who knows us will agree it was always Leigh who took the role of the older, more-responsible sibling.
"On the day that Mr Moodley brutally stole Leigh from us, the day before her 21st party, Karen was finishing off her speech that she was to say for her sister at the party.
"Karen, as well as two of Leigh's closest friends, never got to say their speeches honouring their friend and sister.
"Thirteen days later, Karen, who had just turned 22 herself, was organising the funeral for her beloved 21-year-old sister and instead of getting to read her a speech wishing Leigh good luck for the future and thanking her for her wisdom and advice through the years, Karen was instead reading a eulogy for Leigh.
Support from many
"Leigh's 21st bithday dress is still in a plastic cover hanging in her cupboard -she never got to wear it!
"By murdering our Leigh, Mr Moodley had destroyed a part in each of us close to Leigh, as well as many people who did not even know her, but followed her plight.
"Every night before we go to bed, we still step into her room, hoping that by some miraculous act we'll find her there, untouched and smiling, safe and at home.
"We catch ourselves wanting to phone her and ask her what we should get mom for Mother's Day or what she wants for supper.
"Our hearts jump and skip a beat each time we go out and catch a sudden glimpse of a blonde-haired girl passing through the crowds in the hope that it could be her.
"None of these things will ever come true for us, no matter how much we pray and hope and plead.
"We will never be able to laugh with her, the four of us together again, because Mr Moodley took her away from us and just as easily carried on with his life.
"He left us with the nightmares.
Leigh was a gentle soul
"How can one be left with no option, but to kill a person?
"Leigh was a gentle soul. When it came to selecting a movie she would opt for a comedy or a drama, never a thriller or a horror movie.
"Once when going on holiday as a family, we hired a story tape to play in the car during the trip.
"After the first two chapters Leigh insisted that we turn the story off. She was not able handle the content of the story, Silence of the Lambs.
When it came to her body, Leigh was a very private person and always covered herself.
Forced to strip naked
"How ironical that she should be the subject of such a traumatic 12 hours before cruelly meeting her death.
"Forced to strip naked in front of this man who had terrorised and tormented her. Her body was then found lying naked in the veld.
"I wonder how Mr Moodley would feel if this had happened to one of the ladies in his family?
There was a moment of obtuse irony during the court proceedings when Mr. Moodley complained that he felt caged when seats were taken up behind him.
"I wonder how Leigh felt gagged and blindfolded in the boot of his car. We pray that God gave her strength and courage during her ordeal.
"As a family, the 12 days before her body was found we had to deal with Leigh's death I don't know, 10, 11, 12 times a day.
"How cruel was that? We would get leads of hope and despair all at the same time. Police and investigators worked 24 hours around the clock.
"The resources of a family, community and a country dedicated to the search for Leigh were enormous.
"There was a request from the No 1 citizen in the country, Nelson Mandela, for the perpetrators to release Leigh.
"There were also messages from Thabo Mbeki, the ANC youth league and many other leaders of politics and industry all calling for Leigh's safe return.
Shot with high-impact bullets
"To no avail, Mr Moodley had already cold-bloodedly murdered her. Shot four times. Shot with bullets that I understand are high impact and initiate expansion on impact.
"Optimum killing power. This is the deliberate act of a coward who chose to execute his plan on the weaker sex.
"Leigh was hypersensitive to security. In our family, she was the one to make sure we had locked our doors and put seatbelts on before driving off. She would not give a lift to a stranger.
"Anyone who knew Leigh would confirm this. We therefore firmly believe that Leigh knew Mr Moodley, otherwise she would not have given him a lift from Bond Campus.
"Bond is a small university and she probably had seen him on the campus or in the canteen.
"He would have politely persuaded her to give him a lift as she would not have tolerated an aggressive ill mannered individual.
"Whenever he spoke to me he was persuasive, cool, calm and controlled.
Never kept his part of the deal
He led me to believe that he would let her go. He told me that he was a Libyan and had done this before.
"I had no reason to doubt him. He told me she was safe. He would let her go once he had counted the money.
"But, he never kept his side of the deal. Even criminals should have a sense of honour.
"How wrong could we be? This was all part of his thin veneer of a person trying to display credibility.
"There is a deep side to Mr Moodley that no one knows or acknowledges.
"What unfolded was the work of someone with no soul or conscience. A person with no feeling or guilt.
"He knew it was Leigh's 21st on Saturday. I told him.
"Mr Moodley, through his actions, has displayed that he has no conscience.
"He had a plan and had no intention of compromising it by letting Leigh live. In our opinion, he never intended to let Leigh live, she knew him.
"If it is true he kept Leigh in a cooling facility for about 11 days after shooting her and then staging a scene where her body was found, this provides a further display of his lack of feeling. Callous and calculating.
"This was not the work of a man suffering under a heavy burden of remorse. And if that wasn't enough he was able to carry on with a normal life.
'Bought a ring'
"He participated in a volleyball team that was able to be one of the medal winners. He even managed to purchase a ring, organise a boat trip and proposed to his girlfriend with the money extorted from my family.
"Now, if there was any doubt about Mr Moodley's ability to live with himself without regret, surely this is the ultimate proof.
This leads us to the concept of remorse. Given the way Mr Moodley conducted his life after July 9, it is hard to understand that the man has any remorse in his body.
"Of course, once he was apprehended then remorse could always be a possibility.
"Remorse we submit is a function of being caught. It is so easy to start looking at what one has done after one has been found out.
Phoned chat-show to talk about remorse
"Something that I have never done before is phone in to a radio-chat programme. The discussion was on remorse.
"I phoned in anonymously and suggested that remorse was a function of being caught.
"To my amazement, the next caller was an ex-prisoner who agreed with me.
"This caller said that he and many other prisoners were remorseful of their deeds simply because they had been caught.
"It is diabolical to now hear that Mr Moodley is sorry. It is so easy to say sorry.
"So, as a family we find it difficult to believe that Mr Moodley had any intention of sending us Leigh's ring and an anonymous letter of explanation.
"He had almost three months to do this prior to his arrest. We believe this to be part of his manipulative character and a fabric as a result of his arrest.
"How much more does one need to see that Mr Moodley is not capable of remorse or guilt?
"The eyes of the country are on this case. As a family we did not wish to be here. We had no choice.
"So, seeing that we are here, our appeal for sentence is not only for us as a family, but for the country as a whole.
'Zero tolerance against corruption'
"We believe the country needs to keep growing its belief and trust in the criminal and justice system.
"We have seen the collective efforts of world-class practitioners in our country to bring this case to where it is today.
"In a recent court decision we saw that the courts gave a message of zero tolerance against corruption.
"This judgment against Mr Moodley presents an opportunity to show criminals that there will be no tolerance towards crimes of this nature.
"The police did an amazing job to show the country that they have the capacity to solve this crime.
"It is now the chance of the court to show that Mr Moodley's crime can not become a new way of satisfying greed.
"As a citizen of the country, we are all governed by the rules of the constitution. The constitution grants its citizens a right to life.
'No longer has a rigfht to life'
"This would apply to Leigh. She had a right to life as guaranteed by the constitution.
"We have to believe that the right to life is for so long as citizens conduct themselves in a particular manner.
"Mr Moodley has conducted himself in a way that no longer gives him a right to life.
"We know the country no longer has the death sentence and, as such, the alternative for Mr Moodley is to be incarcerated until he dies.
"Recently even Minister Balfour acknowledged that there were some criminals that were not capable of being rehabilitated.
"Mr Moodley, through his personality, must never be allowed to persuade the authorities that he is rehabilitated or capable of being rehabilitated.
"Remember the modus operandi of the man. It was all about persuading and manipulating people.
"We, therefore, beseech this honourable court, my Lord, to impose a sentence that will remove Mr Moodley from civil society for as long as our laws provide.
"Mr Moodley must never be allowed to deceive people again. He should be sentenced to jail until the day he dies.
"He should never be allowed to walk free. He has waived that right forever.
"Thank you, my Lord," said Matthews.
- SAPA