The Cape High Court on Tuesday dismissed an application to strike from the roll the case against an actuarial assistant accused of beating and stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death.
Fred van der Vyver (24) is charged with the murder of Stellenbosch University student, Inge Lotz, who was allegedly beaten to death with a hammer and stabbed in March last year.
Striking a criminal case from the roll is the same as the withdrawal of charges — the accused walks free, and the charge may only be re-instituted with the written consent of the local Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP).
In Tuesday’s proceedings, top officials from the local DPP, Nollie Niehaus and Johan ”JC” Gerber, were present when Judge Essa Moosa refused the defence’s application not to allow the state to postpone the case to February next year. The defence asked instead that the case be struck from the roll.
Moosa said: ”I was tempted to strike the case from the roll, to put the state to terms, but I am not satisfied that the prosecuting authorities are to blame for the delay.”
He said the delay in the case could be ascribed to a combination of factors, including overcrowded criminal court rolls, prosecutors being tied up in other urgent cases and giving priority to age-related cases where the accused were in custody.
The case is now set to start on February 12. — Sapa