WATCH: Convicted killer rapist Laston Moodley receives double life sentence
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Durban - Twenty four hours after Laston Moodley was convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a 7-year-old girl, he has been jailed to a double life term.
Moodley, 27, seemed unfazed as Judge Shyam Gyanda handed down sentence in the Durban High Court.
The call centre agent, was arrested in 2018, following the murder of Sithembile Amanda Mila.
The Grade 2 pupil, sustained stab wounds and was found naked in a passage in Waterloo in July 2018.
Mila and Moodley had been neighbours.
The court heard that Moodley often sent Mila to the shop for him.
Judge Gyanda found that Moodley had used a chocolate to lure the little girl to his home.
"Like a bait thrown before a fish you used the chocolate to bait the child."
On July 28, 2018, the accused sent her to buy cigarettes.
It is alleged that when she returned with the cigarettes, he promised her a chocolate to entice her to enter the house in Hammonds Farm.
When the deceased entered the home, the accused allegedly raped and stabbed her before dragging her body outside and leaving her for dead.
Having remained in police custody since his arrest, Moodley maintained his innocence.
During sentencing State advocate, Krishen Shah handed in victim impact statements of the deceased’s aunt, grandmother and a community member.
“The victim was defiled in a terrible manner. When one considers the seriousness of the case, he is a convict.”
Laston Moodley was sentenced to a double life term for killing and murdering a 7 year old Waterloo girl in 2018.
Picture: Janine Moodley
He highlighted the outcry of the community and that it should play a part in sentencing.
“Residents wanted to take his house down, brick by brick," said Shah.
Defence advocate, Manoj Hardeo said the accused highest level of education was grade 11 and was a sales consultant at Talk Sure earning a salary of R4200 a month.
"With his money he supported his father and mother who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.
“The question of remorse is that he still maintains that he is innocent. He is not old and would be a good candidate for rehabilitation.”
Judge Gyanda said the right to life is enshrined in the Constitution and every human being had that right.
“In this country, numerous campaigns have been going on for children’s rights to be protected but it seems the message is not getting through. A child of that age knows nothing about sex and from the post-mortem report, two to three days after the incident, the child was still bleeding from her vagina.”
He said he accepted the evidence of the single eye witness who was a minor.
Though he treated it with caution and criticism, he found her evidence to be truthful and reliable especially coupled with the evidence of other state witnesses.
“There is no basis I can think of to account for substantial and compelling circumstances in your case.
"If you had sexual urges, you had a fiancé, why resort to defile an innocent child and in the process rob her of her life.”