Lotz: Police case 'watertight'

2005-06-19 22:29

LLwellyn Prince

Cape Town - Police say their case against the suspected killer of Matie student Inge Lotz, 22, is watertight.

Fred van der Vyver handed himself over to police last week and has appeared in court on a murder charge. He is out on bail of R10 000.

Police were reacting to reports in Sunday's Rapport newspaper on Van der Vyver's alibi.

Spokesperson Riaan Pool said he didn't understand why Van der Vyver's team chose to publish his alibi in the media.

"The police are not going to conduct the investigation via the media."

"The results of technological and forensic investigations will be tabled in court.

"That will be the deciding factor rather than the word games played in the media."

According to Rapport, on the day she died, Lotz forwarded several text messages to Van der Vyver and gave him letters declaring her love for him.

Van der Vyver's alibi is also reported in detail.

"We are not worried about what is being said in Rapport because it won't influence our case against the accused.

We have a strong case against him and are absolutely sure we have arrested the right man," Pool said.

"Our objective is to bring the perpetrator to book, not to make an innocent man look guilty."

William Booth, Van der Vyver's lawyer, said the only thing he gave to Rapport was a sworn statement his client submitted at the time of his last court appearance.

"The rest of the information they would have had to obtain through private investigators."

Van der Vyver is to appear in court again on 16 September.

- Die Burger