Despite the fact that the courts found Fred van der Vyver not only ‘not guilty’ but also ‘innocent’ of murdering Inge Lotz, the parents of Inge are now suing Fred for approximately R4 million each!

Some people have claimed that this is similar to the OJ Simpson trial but there are big differences. In the OJ trial, there was always an element of doubt as to the juries findings. These doubts were based on race issues (evident in juror statements after the trial), evidence that was not presented and even some doubt concerning evidence that was presented in the trial. In the van der Vyver case, the case was far more compelling that he was in fact innocent of the charges.

Personally I think that suing after the case has been decided is wrong and really should not be allowed. I am talking about when a ‘not guilty’ verdict is reached only. A civil court could reach a different decision to a criminal court, because while the latter had to find a suspect guilty “beyond reasonable doubt”, a civil court could find a suspect guilty on “the balance of probabilities”. Doesnt this fly in the face of what a criminal trial is all about?

We all acknowledge the pain and suffering caused to victims families and we whole heartedly sympethise with them. However a civil trial, after the criminal trial has found a defendant ‘not guilty’, somehow suggests spite on the part of the victims family. It also hows that they are not satisfied with the result of the criminal trial, which of course in this case is to be expected. One wonders why they do not rather sue the police for running a shoddy investigation.

I do not think that the Lotz’s reached this decision on their own. As Dup de Bruyn, Fred’s advocate said, he knows who is behind this action and what their motive is. I feel that the Lotz family are now being used by other individuals in order to further their own agenda.

My personal feeling is that the Stellenbosch police are possibly behind it. If the civil action works in the Lotz’s favour, then they will be ‘redeemed’ in the eyes of not only the family but the community at large. This could be just a mere case of disaster management strategy. They can gain credibility because of it - a case of ‘the fish didn’t really get away’. This would somehow justify their investigation.

It would be very interesting if this motive did come out in the court case, because if it is the cops, they will have an aweful amount to lose on this gamble!

It has been reported that the police are going to charge Werner Carolus with obstructing and defeating the ends of justice. Apparently a docket was registered in Stellenbosch last week which paves the way for the charges.

During the trial Carolus had confessed to police that he had burgled Inge’s flat and that he witnessed his friends killing her.

Daryl Els and Christiaan Botha, the private investigators briefly hired by the Van der Vyver family had decided to investigate the matter further, with Els interviewing Carolus in prison where he got a confession and identification of the others allegedly involved.

Botha said that he had sent his findings to national Police Commissioner, Jackie Selebi’s office and also to the Independent Complaints Commission and that he hoped that they would investigate it further.

So now we have another standoff between the police and the former van der Vyver team. Who will ultimately prevail? Will we finally discover the truth?

I don’t have a lot of faith in the Selebi angle. Selebi is currently a tad too concerned with his own leal problems to bother about this case. Maybe we will see some result from the IDC.

Dr Chris Landman of the State President’s Commission for the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Commission) told the Cape Argus that the government needs to review the Lotz murder case and investigate the conduct of the State investigators.

He further said that if the investigation revealed that the investigators have acted irregularly, then all their earlier cases need to be reviewed in case other innocent people have been jailed.

I totally agree with Dr Landman. Most of us have known for a very long time that in many cases the police and/or prosecution are corrupt and mishandle cases. My hope is that other people will stand up and condemn the actions of the State and police in the handling of this case in particular and in the way they handle cases generally.