Fred might sue
2007-11-29 23:47
Carryn-Ann Nel and Diana-Marie Strydom
Cape Town - Further investigation will be done into the now-unresolved Inge Lotz murder case after Fred van der Vyver was found not guilty and acquitted. He is considering legal steps against the State.
The High Court verdict comes nearly 2½ years after Van der Vyver had been charged with the Stellenbosch University student's murder.
The bloodied body of Inge, 22, only child of Professor Jan Lotz of Bloemfontein and Mrs Juanita Lotz of Welgemoed, was found in her flat in Klein Welgevonden in Stellenbosch on March 16 2005.
Senior Superintendent Billy Jones did not want to comment on further investigations or whether other suspects had been identified.
"We want to study the docket and will discuss the way forward with the director of public prosecutions. Only afterwards, will we make a decision."
Considering a civil suit
He said shortcomings in the police investigation as pointed out by the judge would be investigated. He didn't want to comment on whether steps would be taken against police officials.
Van der Vyver's heavyweight legal team was considering a civil suit against the State.
William Booth, his attorney, said the police's actions were a source of concern. "The legal team is considering a civil suit, but that is not yet final."
As far as an appeal was concerned, the State had theoretically no authority to appeal against a not-guilty verdict, which was a factual finding, said advocate Paul van der Merwe, the Western Cape deputy director for public prosecutions.
"If the finding was based on a legal principle, where an article of the law was involved, one could have appealed on the grounds that the law was wrongly interpreted by the court, but that was not the case," said Van der Merwe.
One of the State's advocates, Christenus van der Vijver, said once one was found not guilty on a specific charge, you could not be charged with it again, even if new evidence surfaced.
"That's what the Americans call double jeopardy."
He said the verdict was "well motivated". "Every aspect of the case was covered."
Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros attended a crime monitoring meeting and could not comment except through his spokesperson, Novela Potelwa. He said he was aware of the verdict.
"It will be unsuitable to comment at this stage, since we have not studied the judge's ruling," said Potelwa.
Won't comment on costs
Investigating officer Attie Trollip didn't want to comment outside court.
Meanwhile, Van der Vyver said he would be back at work on Monday.
Booth added that it had been a highly emotional time for Van der Vyver and his family, as well as the defence.
He didn't want to elaborate on the family's costs for some of the country's best legal representatives and the world's best specialists testifying in the case.