5 reasons why judge found Laston Moodley guilty of rape and murder of 7-year-old

Share this article: Share Tweet Share Share Share Email Share

Durban - Far from being a victim of circumstance, Laston Moodley was, in fact, the person who raped and murdered Sithembile Amanda Myaka. This was the view of Durban High Court Judge Shyam Gyanda, in convicting Moodley of the crimes which shocked the community of Waterloo, Verulam, two years ago. Judge Gyanda found that Moodley, a call centre agent, had lured Amanda to his house by offering her a chocolate, before attacking the 7-year-old. He raped and stabbed her in his flat, before carrying her out and leaving her between two blocks of flats. She later died of her injuries, at Addington Hospital. Moodley had pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying he had returned to his flat to find an angry crowd at his door. However, the judge rejected this version, saying his claim - that he came home to find people outside his flat and walked inside without making any comment or asking what had happened, and instead locked himself inside - was not how a reasonable person would react.

During the judgement, Judge Gyanda spelled out five reaons why he rejected Moodley's version of events:

1.

“You notice the blood on the floor which had not been there when you left the house. You go upstairs to the bedroom and change your clothes. You realise that some of the shoes are missing but do not bother to check around the house for what else is missing, but you lock yourself in the bedroom and do not open the door until the police break it down,” said Judge Gyanda.

2.

Gyanda asked why, if Moodley’s version was true and he had called the police, he had not let the officers in.

If his house was broken into by the person he claims attacked Amanda, why were the electronics, other shoes and CDs not taken?

3.

The judge accepted the evidence of Amanda’s friend (a juvenile witness who cannot be named), who testified she saw Moodley sending Amanda to the shop and, upon her return, offering her a chocolate and luring her into his flat.

Although she did not see the person offering the chocolate at Moodley’s door, she knew he was there alone and his wife was at work.

4.

Judge Gyanda said the juvenile witness saw Moodley dragging Amanda’s body out of the house and placing it between the flats.

5.

Gyanda said Moodley killed Amanda to silence her, because he knew she would tell her grandmother what he had done.

“I cannot find any reason to believe someone chose your house to commit the crime. I cannot believe you’re a victim of circumstances,” said Judge Gyanda.

Hearing the judge convict Moodley came with mixed emotions for Amanda’s grandmother and aunt Zinhle Myaka. Having raised her after, she was dumped at their home by her mother, when she was just three months old, her death was a second blow for the family, after her father’s death a year before.

Myaka said the conviction was bitter-sweet justice for the little girl she had raised as her own.

“Her mother and my brother (her father) had an argument shortly after she was born, and her mother gave her up. We never heard from her mother again,” she said.

Myaka said she had tried to trace the mother, following Amanda’s death, using social media and radio stations, but failed.

“If she is living, she does not know her daughter died a terrible death,” she said.

Daily News