/ 1 October 2007

Lotz murder accused acted strangely, court hears

Murder accused Fred van der Vyver acted extremely strangely after the death of his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, the Cape High Court heard on Monday.

The submission came from prosecutor Carien Theunissen in closing argument in Van der Vyver’s trial.

He is alleged to have bludgeoned her to death in her Stellenbosch flat on March 16 2005.

Theunissen told the court that even though he had at that stage been assured he was not a suspect, Van der Vyver had had an alibi ready, offered to have his cellphone records inspected, thought it fit to tell one policeman of Lotz’s allegedly bad relationship with her father, and told another that he and Lotz had never argued.

When a pair of Hi-Tech sport shoes, which the prosecution has sought to link to a bloody mark on Lotz’s bathroom floor, were taken from his flat by police, he said the shoes’ laces were in Queenstown.

It turned out that the laces were inside the shoes.

Theunissen said it was clear from letters Lotz wrote to Van der Vyver that the relationship had been in troubled waters.

She had tried to placate him by repeatedly apologising to him and assuring him of her faithfulness. — Sapa