Christelle Lotter, whose brother and sister are accused of murdering their parents, says they were motivated by "money, sex and anger", and are not entitled to one cent of their inheritance.
And so incensed is she by her siblings' bid to get money from their parents' R2-million estate that she has launched her own court action to stop Nicolette, 27, and Hardus, 21, from inheriting, even if they are acquitted of the murders.
The siblings and Nicolette's former boyfriend, Mathew Naidoo, are accused of murdering Johan and Riekie at their Westville home last July.
While protesting their innocence and claiming unknown men had broken into the house, they were arrested soon afterwards.
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| 'We all have beliefs and persons who influence us' |
They are locked in a battle with the Legal Aid Board over who will represent them at their trial.
In the meantime, they have launched an urgent application in the Durban High Court, asking for monthly maintenance from their parents' estate and money for legal fees and experts, who they hope will get them off the hook.
Breaking her silence, Christelle, 23, filed an opposing affidavit with the court on Friday, in which she says they committed "murder most foul" - driven by "money, sex and anger". "They planned to get away with the murders, to inherit and to live as they please," she says.
With reference to their stated defence that they were under the influence of Satanism, Christelle says there was not the "barest allegation" to support this.
"There is no need for a search to find some esoteric motive... the motives accord with those which inspire 99 percent of all murders.
"We all have beliefs and persons who influence us - that does not equate into a licence to kill with impunity."
Christelle, who lives in Cape Town, says that should her siblings persist with these claims of Satanic influence, then these should be tested under cross-examination.
She has retained the services of top advocate Kemp J Kemp, who successfully represented President Jacob Zuma.
Christelle states as fact that her siblings "murdered our father and mother". To back this up she uses the transcripts of Naidoo's bail application, in which the investigating officer testified that Hardus and Nicolette had confessed to the crimes.
Her lawyers are attempting to get these confessions from the State, to use against her siblings in court.
"The applicants murdered my parents; they murdered them in a premeditated, brutal, cold-blooded and cruel fashion, and told prepared lies to divert suspicion. If it had worked for them as planned, they would have shared in the estate left by my parents.
"I do not wish the applicants to benefit from their wrongful and criminal conduct.
"It is a feeling shared by anyone who has an inkling of what great harm and grief they caused," she said.
Christelle said it "sickened" her to imagine the "absolute horror and terror which may have come over my mother" during numerous attempts to inject air into her veins by sticking needles into her.
"I simply do not accept that they can simply blame Satanism or Naidoo to absolve themselves of the murders," she said.
Christelle wants a judge to declare her siblings "unworthy" of inheriting or in any way benefiting from her parents' estate.
The matter will come before the court again on July 13.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Mercury on June 22, 2009
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