Moodley and Pillay murder trial continues

On Tuesday, April 18, Lazarus Pillay took the stand in the Scottburgh High Court to testify in his defence against one charge of murder and one charge of armed robbery.

Pillay stated that he and his neighbour and co-accused, Bavanandan Moodley, had been drinking pals for approximately 2 – 3 months.

On the morning of Friday, June 25, 2021, he had been preparing to travel to Phoenix to collect money to pay his rent when Moodley approached him and asked if he could accompany him.

Moodley had asked him to ask his (Moodley’s) wife to lend him R200 as she did not trust her husband with money. Moodley then asked him not to go to Phoenix, but rather to remain in Umkomaas as he had a job to do.

He did not specify the nature of the job, but Moodley did offer to lend him the R700 to pay his rent. Moodley had asked if he could put his jacket into Pillay’s backpack and had then kept the backpack with him.

The two of them had purchased vodka with the money Mrs Moodley had given them and had spent the afternoon drinking in Roseneath. At approximately 4 pm, Moodley had gone to meet his other drinking pal, Sivalin Govender, whom he knew as “Leon”.

He told the court that he had only met Sivalin / Leon twice. Moodley and Sivalin had gone to Spar to buy more alcohol and had then rejoined him.

The three had continued drinking together until Sivalin had gone to a local supermarket to buy goods for his tuckshop. Sivalin had wanted to go and drink at the Orissa Tavern, but Moodley wanted to go to a secluded area nearby, which was not familiar to him (Pillay). Sivalin had given Moodley money to buy cigarettes and cooldrink.

Moodley had called him (Pillay) aside and had said that he was going to buy eye drops and brake fluid, but did not explain why. However, Moodley did indicate to him that he wanted to get Sivalin drunk so that he could rob him, as Sivalin allegedly had R900 in cash.

During cross-examination, Pillay claimed that Moodley had intended to spike Sivalin’s vodka with the eye drops in the belief that this would drug him.

Pillay denied that Sivalin had been flaunting his cash in front of them, nor had Sivalin been swearing or using offensive language as Moodley had claimed in his testimony before the court. He also denied he had lost his temper because Sivalin had allegedly made offensive remarks about his mother.

When Moodley had returned with the cooldrink and cigarettes, Sivalin had announced that he wanted to go home as it was getting dark.

Moodley had persuaded him to stay and to have some more to drink.

An argument had ensued, and Moodley had produced a hammer from the backpack and had struck Sivalin on the head. Sivalin had fallen to the ground. Moodley had then removed cash, bank cards, and airtime vouchers from Sivalin’s pockets, and had instructed him (Pillay) to help drag the unconscious Sivalin into the bush.

Pillay stated that he had been too shocked not to comply with Moodley’s instructions.

His description of the assault on Sivalin was very confusing as he kept contradicting himself regarding whether Moodley had struck Sivalin from the left or the right side.

He also stated that Sivalin had fallen backward after the first blow and that he had been lying on his back when they dragged him into the bush.

The prosecutor then pointed out that the post-mortem report stated that Sivalin had sustained two injuries to the head, one on the right side of his head and one on the back of the head and that there were drag marks on his chest, indicating that he had been face-down after the assault.

The two had then taken the backpack and went to the nearest ATM to draw money.

Moodley had given one of the bank cards to him (Pillay) saying that he had accompanied Sivalin to the bank and therefore knew which account contained money and what the pin number was. He (Pillay) had then withdrawn approximately R600 and had given the money to Moodley.

The two of them had then sat drinking on the steps outside the ATM. From the ATM, they had gone to the Orissa Tavern, where he had played the slot machines with money that Moodley had given him.

While at the tavern, he had noticed blood on his shoes and had suggested to Moodley that they should return home.

They had duly returned to Moodley’s home, where Moodley had instructed his wife to wash their shoes, trousers, and shirts. Moodley had told his wife what had happened and had given her money and some of the stolen airtime vouchers.

It was decided that Pillay should spend the remainder of the night in the Moodleys’ home. The day’s proceedings ended at this point.

On Wednesday, April 19, Pillay resumed his testimony and told the court that at 4 am on Saturday, June 26, 2021, Moodley had woken him and told him that they must return to the murder scene and hide the body as they had left it too close to the path used by pedestrians passing from V-Section to Roseneath.

Moodley had told him to bring the glove he used when catching crabs at the beach.

Moodley had worn the glove when dragging Sivalin’s body deeper into the bush, where they had covered it with broken branches. Moodley had then told him to throw the hammer into the bush and had thrown the glove away too.

On their return to Moodley’s home, Moodley had told his wife what they had done. During that morning, Sivalin’s mother had arrived and asked Moodley where her son was as she had heard that Moodley had been seen with him the previous afternoon.

After she had left, he, Moodley, and Moodley’s wife had spent the afternoon drinking together, and once again, he had spent the night in the Moodleys’ home. Moodley had not wanted him to return to his own home.

On Monday, June 28, Moodley had asked him to accompany him and his wife to the Umkomaas Police Station to provide an alibi for the 25th. Moodley had threatened to tell the police he was the murderer if he refused to cooperate.

At the police station, the two men were taken into separate rooms, where they made their respective statements. He had lied to the police, saying that he had been in Phoenix on June 25.

Later that afternoon, they learned that Sivalin’s body had been found, so he had departed for Phoenix. On his arrival in Phoenix, he had warned his wife to stay away from Umkomaas.

On June 29, he received a ‘phone call from W/O Moodley of the Umkomaas police, informing him that Moodley had named him as a suspect in the murder of Sivalin Govender.

He had then decided to give himself up and had asked W/O Moodley to provide transport to Umkomaas.

He was duly fetched by a vehicle from ADT Security which took him as far as the Umkomaas on-ramp on the N2, where he was met by W/O Moodley and W/O Colin Pillay, who conveyed him to the Umkomaas Police Station.

At the station, he had made his second statement to the police, followed by a “pointing out” where he had shown the police where he had disposed of the hammer. At this point, the court adjourned until Monday, April 24, 2023.