Numerous calls have been received by the family of Inge Lotz – who was found murdered in her Stellenbosch flat seven years ago – since her father posted a R1 million reward for information.
And the author of the biography of the slain Stellenbosch university student says this move highlights the “inefficient and clumsy” investigative by police who bungled the case.
Seven years after her murder on March 16, 2005, her family has still not seen justice. Now her father, Professor Jan Lotz, is offering R1m for the killer’s conviction.
Lotz was 22 when she was found murdered in her Stellenbosch flat – she had been bludgeoned to death. Soon after her murder, her boyfriend, Fred van der Vyver, was arrested and later stood trial but was acquitted in November 2007.
During his trial, the police’s shoddy work dismantled the State’s case, with Judge Deon van Zyl rejecting all aspects of their case when setting Van der Vyver free.
Van der Vyver later successfully took the Minister of Police to court for malicious prosecution, but the State is appealing the ruling.
Attorney Johan Jordaan, who is the contact person for people with information, said that since the weekend they had received numerous calls and were following up on all leads. “Many people have addressed issues in the bigger picture of the case and there have been fractions of information from all over,” Jordaan said.
Meanwhile Michael Day, author of the Inge Lotz biography Inge – A life cruelly betrayed, says her father’s reward should be seen as a message that the case would not be swept away.
“Professor Lotz’s announcement of an unprecedented R1m reward for information leading to the capture of his daughter’s killer cannot be dismissed lightly as the final act of a desperate man crying out in the face of a paralysed criminal justice system that has clearly let him down,” Day said.
In the light of the latest appeal by the Lotz family, Day said it was necessary to remind the public about Van Zyl’s words when commenting on the Lotz enquiry: “Although I am reluctant to question the functioning of the police, it would appear that inefficient and clumsy investigative work took place in the early stages of this case.”
Day added that in a scathing 43-point police memo, written four weeks into the enquiry, the investigating officer was lambasted for failing to conduct even the most elementary of procedural enquiries. - Cape Times