Inge: 'Hammer kept in bakkie'
2007-02-14 23:24
Cape Town - The young man accused of murdering Stellenbosch student Inge Lotz was carrying the alleged murder weapon in his bakkie a month after the killing, it emerged in the Cape High Court on Wednesday.
Superintendent Johannes Kock, a police forensics expert, was testifying in the trial of Fred van der Vyver, 24, who is accused of bludgeoning 22-year-oldInge to death in her flat on March 16 2005.
Kock told the court that Van der Vyver went to police investigators' offices in Bishop Lavis for questioning on April 15 that year.
Investigators also wanted to conduct a forensic examination of his bakkie, an Opel Corsa.
Took out 'ornamental hammer'
When they asked him if there was anything of value in the vehicle, he unlocked it and removed the hammer.
The State has described the implement as an "ornamental hammer".
It has a bottle opener where the claw of a carpenter's hammer would be found.
Kock said he was astonished when Van der Vyver produced the hammer, as he thought an item of value would have been something like jewels or money.
Van der Vyver was instructed to replace the hammer, and the car was again locked, and later forensically examined.
Kock testified that an earlier post-mortem examination had clearly showed a "round" wound among those inflicted on Inge.
He said a bloodstain on a towel found on the floor of a bathroom in the flat was a "butterfly" pattern, produced when a towel held in the hand was folded over an object when used to wipe it clean.
He showed the court a photograph of the original stain, then of "butterfly" stains he himself produced by wiping the hammer, and finally a photograph of the hammer positioned over the original stain.
Evidence about blood specks
Kock also gave the court an overview of the formation and analysis of blood-spatter patterns.
He said it appeared from a lack of blood specks on an area of floor next to the couch where Inge's body was found, that this was where the killer had been standing.
The case continues on Thursday.
- SAPA