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Sunday, 16 February, 2025
HomeMedico-LegalHPCSA rules against forensic psychologist over Donovan Moodley profiling

HPCSA rules against forensic psychologist over Donovan Moodley profiling

A preliminary inquiry by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) has found profiler Professor Gerard Labuschagne guilty of unprofessional conduct and fined him R10 000 for conducting a risk assessment on murderer Donovan Moodley “without patient consent”.

The outcome, reports News24, could be precedent-setting for forensic psychologists who might be called to present evidence in criminal matters, where they are highly unlikely to get the consent of the accused.

Labuschagne is an expert witness for the family of Leigh Matthews, the 21-year-old student Moodley kidnapped and murdered in July 2004, in their efforts to oppose his repeated legal attempts to secure parole.

Moodley was found guilty in July 2005, with the court hearing that he had shot his victim in the back of her head, dumped her body in a secluded area, and spent the R50 000 ransom he’d secured from her father.

He pleaded guilty to intentionally murdering Matthews and was sentenced to life imprisonment, but has spent years fighting for parole.

Moodley laid a far-ranging complaint against former police forensic psychologist Labuschagne after he submitted a risk assessment report to parole authorities, tracking repeated changes in the murderer’s account of how he had shot a naked Matthews multiple times when her back was turned.

Labuschagne’s attorney, Hanneke Verwey, told News24 that although the finding against the professor constitutes a “minor transgression” under HPCSA regulations, he will challenge it in a full inquiry process.

“Professor Labuschagne firmly denies any unprofessional conduct and has elected to reject the preliminary committee’s finding, as well as the proposed penalty, opting instead to contest the matter at a full professional conduct inquiry,” she said.

Using court and parole hearing records, Labuschagne said in his report that Moodley had tried to distance himself from his original admission that he had killed Matthews in a deliberate and premeditated way – and had falsely suggested to a prison psychologist and social worker that her murder had been “almost accidental”.

“His actions since conviction appear to have been aimed at minimising his punishment and/or avoiding responsibility for his crimes, and represent a lack of remorse, which suggests aspects of criminal thinking and which in turn indicates that rehabilitation has not yet taken place,” Labuschagne concluded.

“Without any evidence of remorse … since his arrest, up to now, as reflected in his repeated attempts to convince the court he is not responsible for the crimes against Ms Matthews, or to minimise the events, it is unclear how he can be rehabilitated.”

In his complaint to the HPCSA, Moodley accused Labuschagne of “abuse” and argued that it should “act with urgency as my parole consideration is ongoing and the unlawful, dishonest/fraudulent and unethical conduct of Labuschagne continues to cause harm to my parole prospects”.

The HPCSA did not make any serious findings of dishonesty against Labuschagne.

Its interim finding, if upheld, could, however, have a chilling impact on forensic psychologists called to give expert evidence in criminal matters, where they are highly unlikely to get the consent of the accused.

Asked by News24 whether the HPCSA’s preliminary committee finding against Labuschagne meant forensic psychologists who reported on convicted killers without their permission would face sanction, HPSCA spokesperson Priscilla Sekhonyana said this was “a broad and generalised question”.

“The facts of each matter are deliberated on by the HPCSA duly appointed committee, and the outcomes of each depend on the merits of the matter,” she said, after declining to detail the specifics of Moodley’s compliant against Labuschagne and how the preliminary committee had reached its decision.

Sekhonyana would not comment about why the HPCSA’s interim committee had dealt with Moodley’s complaint against Labuschagne in the way it had.

However, News24 received an email from someone claiming to represent Moodley which contained the HPCSA’s interim finding against Labuschagne and claimed that the forensic psychologist had been “found guilty of ‘improper or disgraceful conduct’ and fined R10 000 for his report done on Moodley”.

It further contended that Labuschagne’s risk assessment had been used to “attack” the parole report submitted by a correctional services psychologist who had found – after a two-hour interview with Moodley – that he was remorseful and rehabilitated and no longer posed a risk to society.

“Additionally, it appears that the version of events conveyed to (the psychologist), as reflected in her report, is not consistent with the version of events told during the parole board hearing, or even his (Moodley’s) own guilty plea in 2005,” it said.

In her report, the psychologist recorded that Moodley had told her that, at the time of Matthews’ murder, “his thinking was to leave her there with her phone so she could call for help”. But, she stated, “she panicked (he thinks she probably thought he was going to rape her)”, and Moodley “panicked as well and fired a shot”.

During his parole hearing in January 2022, however, Moodley stated: “I asked her to undress, gave her a blanket to cover herself, I was standing behind her, pointing the gun at the back of her head. As she finished undressing … I’d already decided to kill her… she made a sudden move to turn around. Before she could … I fired the shot.”

When he first pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering Matthews, Moodley said he had realised, while driving to the secluded spot in Walkerville where her body was found, “that I did not have any other way out but to kill her”.

Labuschagne said it appeared Moodley was attempting to give the psychologist a softened version of what happened, in which the shooting was almost accidental and not planned, to create a better image of himself.

In January 2024, MedicalBrief reported that the correctional services psychologist who had first evaluated Moodley and supported his release on parole had also been found guilty of professional misconduct by the HPCSA, and also fined R10 000, according to a TimesLIVE report.

After her interview with Moodley, she had submitted a report saying she found him “remorseful and rehabilitated, and no longer posed a risk to society”.

Rob Matthews had objected to the report and findings, complaining to the HPCSA that it “falls short of the elements of best practice”. He claimed the report was inaccurate, that due care had not been taken in compiling it, and that the parole recommendation was wrong.

He said Moodley had changed his version of events at least seven times, but that this had been ignored in the report. Matthews’ complaint was supported by a responding report by Labuschagne, who said the methodology used by the psychologist did not meet best practice.

He had trained her in risk assessment, he said, and he could show that none of the principles taught had been used in her assessment for the Department of Correctional Service.

 

News24 article – Preliminary HPCSA probe finds against Donovan Moodley profiler for assessing him without consent (Restricted access)

 

See more from MedicalBrief archives:

 

Psychologist guilty of misconduct over killer Donovan Moodley report

 

Alternative approaches could lessen HPCSA delays and mental stress

 

The need for medico-legal reform: A welcome chance to speak up

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