Correctional Services Dept says parole board that denied Moodley early release didn’t do its job properly

The Justice and Correctional Services Department has conceded that the parole board that convened in March to consider convicted killer Donovan Moodley for early release did not do its job properly.

The department’s been in the High Court in Joburg on Wednesday for an application from Moodley, who was behind the kidnap and murder of Leigh Matthews in 2004, to try and overturn the outcome of the March parole hearing, which was that he was not recommended for early release.

Proceedings wrapped up a short while ago.

All the parties before the court on Wednesday agreed that the proceedings that took place in March were problematic.

This included Leigh Matthews’ family, who said that crucial information and, importantly, a 2018 Constitutional Court application Moodley lodged in which he stated under oath his plea was not accurate and that there were others involved in the crime too, wasn’t before the board at the time.

It also included the State respondents – it’s now accepted that one of the members of the parole board fell asleep during the hearing and that while Moodley was allowed legal representation, his legal representative’s involvement in the proceedings was curtailed. And against this backdrop, Advocate Vusumuzi Malema, for the State, on Wednesday afternoon conceded that the proceedings fell to be vitiated.

Where the parties disagreed, though, was when it came to what to do next, with Moodley maintaining the court should substitute the parole board’s negative recommendation with a positive one and the position of the State being that the matter should be sent back to a new parole board for reconsideration.

What the court will decide, though, remains to be seen.

-EWN

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