/ 16 October 2007

Lotz murder accused takes the stand

Murder victim Inge Lotz broke down in tears on the morning of her murder, her former boyfriend, Fred van der Vyver, who is accused of killing her, told the Cape Town High Court on Tuesday. Van der Vyver took the stand after an apparently precedent-setting ruling by Judge Deon van Zyl, which allowed the defence to reopen its case when final arguments were already under way.

Murder victim Inge Lotz broke down in tears on the morning of her murder, her former boyfriend, Fred van der Vyver, who is accused of killing her, told the Cape Town High Court on Tuesday.

Van der Vyver took the stand after an apparently precedent-setting ruling by Judge Deon van Zyl, which allowed the defence to reopen its case when final arguments were already under way.

Van der Vyver did not testify earlier.

Wearing a black suit and a striped green tie, the 25-year-old appeared the picture of confidence on Tuesday, answering his advocate’s questions without a hint of hesitation.

He told the court he first got to know Lotz in 2001, when they shared classes at the University of Stellenbosch, and that they began going steady in December 2004.

At the time of her death he was working as an actuary at Old Mutual in Cape Town, but still attended Wednesday morning classes at Stellenbosch.

On the night of Tuesday March 15 2005, he drove to Stellenbosch to sleep over at Lotz’s flat on her couch, as he usually did.

He was feeling disturbed that night by a phone conversation he had with one of his brothers, as he sensed a coolness on his brother’s part.

Inge asked him what was wrong, and he explained that his relationship with his brothers was not what it should be.

The following morning she again asked what was wrong, and wanted to know whether he was certain about their relationship.

She apparently thought Van der Vyver was acting that way because she had done something.

Van der Vyver told her he loved her very much, and that his mood had nothing to do with the relationship.

He also asked her why she thought it had to do with something she had done, and she began crying.

”I asked her, what is bothering you, are you sure about the relationship,” he told the court. ”She immediately said, she’s certain, she loves me.”

Though he then left to attend an 8am class, he immediately went back into the flat to give her a hug and console her, and asked her to write him an email explaining what was wrong.

She agreed, but instead brought him a letter when classes ended at 10am, saying it was personal and asking him not to leave it lying around for others to read.

The contents of the letter were not dealt with in court on Tuesday. Van der Vyver’s testimony continues on Wednesday.

Van der Vyver said earlier, in an affidavit submitted as part of the application to reopen his case, that he had never been unwilling to testify, but had put himself completely in the hands of his legal team.

In another affidavit, 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 Vyver to testify.

”To put our decision in context, I must also refer to the costs and emotional implications of calling the accused,” he said.

”The trial so far has, in a nutshell, cost the accused’s father literally millions.

”In the light of our opinion [that there was no case to answer], 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 initially advised Van der Vyver not to testify and the young man agreed. — Sapa