Killer's leave to appeal 'absurd'

CONVICTED murderer Donovan Moodley's application for leave to appeal is frivolous and absurd, the Johannesburg high court heard yesterday.

CONVICTED murderer Donovan Moodley's application for leave to appeal is frivolous and absurd, the Johannesburg high court heard yesterday.

"Granting the application would lead to an appeal devoid of prospects of success," said state prosecutor Zaais van Zyl.

Moodley wants to appeal against the life sentence he received after pleading guilty to kidnapping and killing university student Leigh Matthews in 2005.

The grounds for his appeal are that the murder was not premeditated, that he pleaded guilty and that the judge had succumbed to media and public pressure.

Matthews was kidnapped from a university campus in Johannesburg. Her parents were later phoned by Moodley demanding a R300000 ransom with a promise to return her unharmed if paid.

But her decomposed body was discovered two weeks later.

The state is opposing the application.

"The applicant pondered on the issue, decided to kill the deceased, planned how to go about killing her and carried out his plan. This is premeditation in any man's language," Van Zyl said.

Matthews' distraught mother Sharon referred to the application as a waste of taxpayers' money.

"I thought this was over. The fact that this court is prepared to entertain this application amazes me."

Moodley, looking scrawny and malnourished, sat quietly in the dock, never once looking at the gallery that was filled with Matthews' family and friends.

Judge Joop Labuschagne has reserved judgment on Moodley's leave to appeal until Wednesday.