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Trial costs Fred's dad millions
16/10/2007 12:51 - (SA)
Johannesburg - The trial of murder accused Fred van der Vyfer has already cost his father millions of rands, the Cape High Court has been told.
The information emerged on Tuesday during an application by Van der Vyver's legal team for him to testify even though the defence had already closed its case.
In an affidavit presented to the court one of his advocates, Dup de Bruyn, said he and his colleagues had been genuinely convinced at the end of the state case that it was not necessary for Van der Vyfer to testify.
"To put our decision in context I must also refer to the costs and emotional implications of calling the accused. To refute the allegations of the state's experts, experts had to be flown in from the USA at great cost. The trial so far has, in a nutshell, cost the accused's father literally millions.
"In the light of our opinion we were convinced that it was unnecessary to subject the accused to humiliating and hostile cross-examination and his family to the costs of that."
De Bruyn said for this reason he strongly advised Van der Vyfer not to testify and the young man agreed. Van der Vyfer had never been unwilling to take the stand, De Bruyn said.
The state is opposing the application.
Van der Vyfer is charged with murdering his girlfriend Inge Lotz in her Stellenbosch flat in 2005.
- SAPA
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