The Gauteng High Court set aside a decision by the Johannesburg Parole Board to deny convicted murderer Donovan Moodley parole on Thursday.
Moodley was convicted of kidnapping and killing university student Leigh Matthews in 2004.
She was kidnapped from Bond University parking lot on July 9, 2004 and despite her father paying Moodley a R50 000 ransom, which he demanded, he still shot and killed Mathews.
Mathews body was found dumped in an open field in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg.
The court sentenced Moodley to life after finding he had not been truthful as the prosecution proved he killed her somewhere else, kept her body hidden in cold storage and acted with the aid of accomplices he refused to identify.
Moodley has been eligible for parole since 2018. Frustrated by the delays, he applied for the hearing in November last year.
After serving 16 years of his sentence, Moodley was granted a parole hearing on January 21 this year. It took place at the Johannesburg Medium B prison, where Rob and Sharon Matthews spent almost eight hours in the presence of their daughter’s killer during the gruelling process.
They submitted a 131-page report to the board and argued Moodley’s release was not in the interest of society, he was a danger to the community and his freedom would cause them deep suffering.
At the end of the hearing the parole board decided Moodley should not be allowed to go free and the case was referred to justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola for confirmation.
Moodley did not take the matter lying down and appealed the parole’s board decision.
He accused the board of failing to fairly and objectively consider his eligibility for parole, News24 reported.
This week, the Gauteng High Court ruled in Moodley’s favour. It set aside the decision by the Johannesburg parole board.
The judge ordered that the new parole hearing take place before end of March 2023and that Moodley be given two weeks’ notice to prepare.
Source: IOL, Times Live, Sowetan Live, News24, image from Twitter: @RantsSouth