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Judge Deon van Zyl said in court that Fred could have been tipped over the edge after a fight with Inge.

dvz.jpgHe made the remark when rejecting Fred van der Vyver’s application for discharge. He said this in reply to advocate Dup de Bruyn’s assertion that the state had not established a motive for the crime.

Further, he said that although many people described their relationship as “perfect”, Wimpie Boshoff, one of Inge’s friends also testified that on the day in question, fred and Inge had had a big fight. This was confided to him by Inge.

Judge van Zyl also mentioned that this had been confirmed by the letter Inge wrote on the morning of her murder, in which she repeatedly asked for forgiveness and promised to be faithful.

“This indicates more than just a passing misunderstanding,” Judge van Zyl said.

“It could have even been the culmination of growing tension between them.

The disagreement could have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. The accused could in fact have become so angry that he could have harboured thoughts of vengeance against the deceased.”

Another point he brought up was the fingerprint on the DVD evidence. He said that while the evidence presented by the state was not always the best, he could not find that fraud had taken place as suggested by the defence.

There was prima facie evidence before the court on the fingerprint which had to be answered.

The same applied to evidence relating to the bloody shoeprint and the ornamental hammer.

“I am satisfied that the State has offered enough evidence to establish a prima facie case, following which the accused could reasonably be found guilty and therefore should be placed on his defence,” Van Zyl said.

The court reconvenes on August 13.

De Bruyn said he intended calling American and Dutch fingerprint experts.

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Justice Deon van Zyl turned down Fred van der Vyver’s application for discharge.

This is seen as a big blow for the defence, as the judge has decided that the state’s case has some merit. The defence team will now have to argue their side of the case.

At this time I do not know when the trial will resume. I will update you when I get further information.

Comments:

It is clear that the judge sees some merit in the state’s case against Fred van der Vyver. To many people this would appear that the judge is siding with the state, however, it could just mean that he has enough doubt that he wants to hear more of what the defence has to say.

As I have said in my previous posts, I have not seen any firm evidence that Fred committed the murder. But then again, I have not seen enough evidence that he did not commit the murder.

As I mentioned in the article about the timeline, there is a window of opportunity, however slight, where the murder could have taken place. This does put an element of doubt in my mind.

I am pretty sure that Justice van Zyl feels the same way. To be honest, at this stage neither side have proven anything for certain. This is probably why he has decided to hear what the defence has to say.

I for one, am very eager to hear the defence case. Do they have any surprises in store? How will they now proceed?

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Inge Lotz Murder: Defence calls for discharge

Monday, July 3oth, saw the resumption of the Fred van der Vyver trial. Advocate Dup de Bruyn began arguing for his clients discharge at the end of the states case against him.

scales.jpgDup de Bruyn said that there was no evidence that Fred had any motive to kill Inge Lotz. He also had no plan or opportunity to have committed the murder. De Bruyn went on to say that there was no evidence that Fred had a guilty conscience after the killing.

He told of how Fred had collapsed in tears when told about the murder, how he kept the alleged murder weapon in his bakkie and even told the police about it. He further mentioned that Fred had willingly taken a lie detector test and had complained that the police were not acting quick enough.

In terms of the evidence, de Bruyn said that there was no evidence of blood or genetic material on the hammer and that the state had not proven that there was any link between the hammer and the murder at all.

The bloody shoe print was also brought up which de Bruyn described as a ‘a mess’.

His major motivation to the court in having the case discharged was that even if Fred presented no evidence at this stage, there could never be a finding of guilt based on any of the evidence given by the prosecution.

Dup de Bruyn was also highly critical of the police and said that they had been determined to nail Van der Vyver “come what will”. In regards to the fingerprint on the DVD case, he cast doubt on the fairness of it as the evidence had not been kept by the police and that further evidence had deliberately been witheld by them.

“In fact, it could be argued that there was fraud involved with the print.”

The State will reply to the defence application on Wednesday.

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Comments:

As I said in an earlier article, I agree with what Dup de Bruyn said. The State made a huge mess of this case and I really can’t believe that they felt that they were even close to be ready for trial.

The lack of evidence in this case is really startling. As I have covered in the previous articles, there is not one bit of tangible proof that Fred was involved in the murder at all.

The farce over the shoe print was also startling. Did the State think that the defence would not check on the evidence and speak to the experts? To blatantly lie and try to deceive the court is unforgivable in any justice system. I sincerely hope that there is retribution for this.

As I have also said previously, this case has not been about whether Fred is guilty or innocent. Rather it has been about whether it was possible or impossible for him to have done it. The result is that even though this case will probably be ruled in Fred’s favour, there will always be that small part of doubt in my mind. Imagine what it would be like for the Lotz family.

At this stage I think that the State should just admit defeat and end the case against Fred. There is no logical reason why they should continue as it has been clearly obvious to all observers what the final result will be. Why waste tax payers money pursuing something that was lost long ago?

Let’s wait and see what Wednesday brings …

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Hi all

I have been going over a lot of the older articles dealing with crucial areas of the Inge Lotz murder. Some of the articles contained errors due to the news sources, others contained factual errors which crept in during editing and lastly I myself have made one or two errors via my language usage.

SearchThe first article I have tackled is the “Inge Lotz Murder: The Ornamental Hammer” article. I have re-edited it and hopefully corrected any mistakes. For all those interested in this story, I would suggest that you re-read it to get a more accurate picture of the events reported. Click here to see the updated story.

Thanks for all your comments, criticisms and feedback. I really appreciate it and welcome it. Please keep them coming!

Regards
JS

Please note this disclaimer:

All “facts” that I mention have been obtained through the media. As we know, the media often exaggerates, distorts, stretches the truth and is pretty often totally off-track. For most of us South Africans, the only source of information regarding this case comes from the media, and most of our talking points come from this reporting. I do not claim to be an expert on this matter, nor an expert in forensics or any have any legal background. I am merely reporting my feelings and the feelings of those who I talk to in my daily life, based on the evidence supplied by the usual news channels. I can not be held responsible for any errors, factual or implied from my blogging here on Blog South Africa. Should mistakes be pointed out to me, I will research them and make adjustments where necessary.

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The trial of Fred van der Vyver in the Inge Lotz murder has me and a many others absolutely riveted. It has become quite the source of entertainment.

Now the murder itself is absolutely abhorrent and I sincerely hope that the murderer gets his just rewards, but I am beginning to wonder if this will indeed happen!

Did Fred van der Vyver do it? This is the six million dollar question! Things do not seem as cut and dry as the cops first made out when he got arrested. Is this because of shoddy police work, excellent lawyering, the wrong man being accused or something else?

When van der Vyver was arrested, it was because the police found his fingerprints at the crime scene. Now were they planted by the cops, were they there all along or are they indeed the fingerprints of the guilty man? It seems as though the lawyers claims that it was not taken from the DVD could be true. There is reasonable doubt there. The state cannot prove for sure that the fingerprint came from the DVD. It sounds like shoddy police work to me!

What about the alibi? van der Vyver claims that he was working when the murder took place. This has been verified by his boss. Case closed? Not really. It seems as though Shahana Toefy, Van der Vyver’s immediate boss at Old Mutual, would be called as a defence witness in support of Van der Vyver’s alibi. But the police director has said that Toefy was “unpleasant” when he spoke to them. Is this evidence of a conspiracy between Toefy and van der Vyver? Not at all. If Toefy was unpleasant, he may have reasons for this. The police may have consistantly told him that he was lying which pissed him off. I know I would be!

Earlier we heard from the police psychologist who had said that the murder was probably one committed by a partner. Sounds fine … until we hear that he was given a whole stack of info and evidence beforehand. The letter requesting his help from the Director of Public Prosecutions, asked him to analyse the murder scene, gave extensive background information on the case and on Van der Vyver, copies of SMSes between the couple, and statements by witnesses. It also said Van der Vyver had arranged for a friend to check up on Lotz as she was not answering her phone. (It was later proved that a friend had made the calland not van der Vyver!).

The case weaves in and out with surprising twists and turns. There is the secret love affair between Marius Botha and Inge Lotz, the secret video tape from Old Mutual security which proves van der Vyver was there at 3:30pm – after the murder had been committed. There is also the computer analysis which proved that he did not use his computer between 1:11pm and 5:13pm on that day. When did he purchase the cupboard from the furniture shop? He says 10:15am, the ex-salesman says after lunch.

Of course the crucial things are the hammer and paring knife found in van der Vyver’s car. Did they cause the fatal injuries?

Police lied in a report on key evidence in the Inge Lotz murder case, according to an internationally-acclaimed forensic expert.

“I am both shocked and amazed of [sic] how many lies are contained in that report,” the expert, Bill Bodziak, said in an email sent to the leader of the defence team, advocate Dup de Bruyn.

Is this true? Are the cops lying to ‘get their man’? Well it has happened in SA many times before. So I guess it could be true!

Whether or not van der Vyver is guilty or not is not up to me to decide. I am just fascinated by the trial which kind of echoes the popularity of the OJ Simpson trial in the US. I find the case intriguing and I am very eager to see how the courts handle the verdict. Is it just an excellent defense bought by money that the average South African couldn’t afford? You decide!

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