Inge Lotz Murder: The State replies to discharge application
Wednesday saw the State replying to the application to discharge Fred van der Vyver. It soon became apparent that they were not going to slink away but rather come out fighting.
They started off by saying that the defence strategy of trying to place the murder close to 6pm was flawed. They said that when the body was found, the menu system of the DVd was playing. this was just after 10 pm. The State claims that this implies that the murder had been committed in the afternoon, rather than early evening.
According to them, Inge was highly “disciplined and routined” and had told her mother she planned to study that evening. she also always watched Egoli and 7de Laan which screens on TV from 6-7pm.
Taking these ‘facts’ together, the State claims that Fred slipped away from work and murdered Inge sometime in the afternoon.
The defence’s efforts to portray the letter Lotz wrote to Van der Vyver that morning as a “love letter” had not succeeded. The letter, in which Lotz seemed to plead for her boyfriend’s trust and love, had to be seen in the context of testimony that the couple had had “a hell of a fight” the night before, said Christenus van der Vijfer, for the state.
He then very strongly rejected all allegations of framing by the police, or that state witnesses had been dishonest or unreliable in the court.
In the beginning of the investigation, they claim that Fred was not a suspect but as the evidence unraveled, much “to the surprise” of the police, it pointed to Fred being the murderer.
The fingerprint evidence also made a showing at court. The State now claims that “We want to make it clear at this stage that after the hearing of all the evidence over the controversial fingerprint, the State at this stage is no longer convinced that a mistake crept in.”
He said it was clear that there had been prints on the DVD cover. In addition, more than a month went by before the police realised the importance of the print.
Judge Van Zyl remarked that he found it strange that the police officer who took the print should be plotting against Van der Vyver even before he was a suspect, as the defence suggested.
Prosecutor van der Vijfer told judge Deon van Zyl on Wednesday that any suggestion of fraud should be rejected with contempt.
When responding to defence allegations that there was a conspiracy to frame Fred, the prosecutor said that inconsistencies in witnesses’ testimonies about dates and other details showed there was none.
The ornamental hammer created similar wounds on animal skulls, similar to those found on Inge, they claim. the also said that the police biologist found traces of ‘possible’ blood on it.
In wrapping up their arguments, the State also mentioned that Marius Botha had testified that Fred had prevented him from getting into the bakkie on the night the body was found.
The hearing continues on Monday, 6 August.
Comments:
Again we see how stubborn the police are in this case. They have still not produced any convincing evidence - even at this late stage. All they have is some very suspicious circumstantial evidence which is mostly tainted.
If you read back in the blog posts, you will see my answers to all of their evidence, so I will not bore you with it again now. Is the prosecution merely trying to ’save face’ or do they really believe in what they are saying?
I think to anyone who has followed this case, we can see that the prosecution’s case is shaky at best. It will be interesting to see what transpires on Monday!
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August 10th, 2007 at 10:48 am
I would like to support Kalula’s comment… Its good to know that there are still some people with common sense. Im very impressed with Judge Deon van Zyl. I think he is a very open minded and strong judge, and I put all my trust in him to judge Fred van der Vyver. I also feel that the State has a strong case and there should be no reason for them to accuse an innocent man. I think the evidence that they have against him are more than valid. Why would the owner of the second hand furniture shop make a false statement about seeing Van der Vyver in his shop way after lunch time on the day of Inge’s Murder? What would be in it for him? What pay off would the police have to fabricate fingerprints and a bloody shoe print? There are just too many questions that are left unanswered. His lawyers put up a very good fight, but will it be enough?