Killer blocks bid to be transferred

CONVICTED killer Donovan Moodley has temporarily blocked an attempt by the Correctional Services department to move him from the Johannesburg Prison to the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria.

Moodley, who kidnapped and murdered Leigh Matthews at Bond University on July 9, 2004, brought an urgent application in the South Gauteng High Court, claiming the move would interrupt his studies to become a lawyer.

While his main request was to remain at the Johannesburg Prison so he could write his exams at the facility in May, he also said he was concerned that if he was moved he would not be able to continue playing his guitar, which brought him “unspeakable joy, comfort and solace”.

Matthews’s body was found dumped in Walkerville, south of Joburg, 11 days after her disappearance. Her parents had paid a R50 000 ransom to Moodley for her release.

He is now serving a life sentence for her murder.

Last night an irate Rob Matthews, Leigh’s father, said individuals such as Moodley relinquished their rights when they committed heinous crimes. “I hope the court treats this application with the contempt it deserves.”

In his urgent 22-page court application brought on Thursday and which he drafted himself, Moodley asked to remain at the Joburg prison until his studies through Unisa, where he is in the second year of an LLB degree, were complete.

Moodley asked that Unisa, which he listed as a respondent, fulfil its part of the contract it had with him and not deregister him from the exam centre in the same prison.