Date
2006-08-17

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The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is holding the entrance test for Management Programme and B.Ed on August 20,prada handbags, Sunday.

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The Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will launch a public movement against the Karnataka Professional Education Institutions Bill-2006 on April 30 at Davanagere, as it will be the death knell for poor meritorious students,prada handbags, said Prabhudev Kappagal, state ABVP secretary. Prabhudev said the Bill if implemented will d]]> Date
2006-04-28

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The Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will launch a public movement against the Karnataka Professional Education Institutions Bill-2006 on April 30 at Davanagere, as it will be the death knell for poor meritorious students,prada handbags, said Prabhudev Kappagal, state ABVP secretary. Prabhudev said the Bill if implemented will dash the hopes of higher education for poor students.

Although there was ample opportunity for the State government to set up a single window system of central CET for professional courses in the State as per the Supreme Court order, giving permission for private professional colleges to conduct their own CET exams was a foolish point included in the present Bill. Thereby nearly 85 per cent seats will be under the control of private colleges.

As per the new Bill,Chanel Handbags, the Government will conduct CET exams for 4,823 seats which include 4,Burberry Handbags,334 engineering, 450 medical and 50 dental seats available in government and aided institutions. This will help private colleges to fill up 45,000 seats, depriving poor students, he feared.

As there will be no transparency in the private CET exams, only students with money can afford it. Conducting two CET exams was a clear violation of the Supreme Court order, he added.

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• Inge Lotz Murder The Alibi

This leaves]]> Fred van der Vyvfer’s alibi is the most pivotal point in the trial. As one of the blog readers mentioned in a previous post, the onus is on the state to prove that the alibi is false, or that it allows for a period in time where the murder could have taken place. The onus is not of Fred to prove that his alibi is real. If the state fails to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Fred van der Vyvfer’s alibi could not have happened, then he must be found not guilty.

This leaves the state two options. Firstly they could prove that the alibi is false, has holes in it, or could not have happened they way Fred says it did. Secondly they could prove by physical evidence that Fred actually did murder Inge. If they can prove this beyond a reasonable doubt, then obviously the alibi could not have played out the way Fred said it did.

Up to this point in the trial, the prosecution has not done a good job of linking Fred positively to the crime scene. The fingerprint and shoe print, which is the state’s strongest pieces of evidence have been vigorously challenged, and plenty of reasonable doubt has been introduced. I will will dealing with the fingerprint and shoe print issue more in-depth in future posts. Most of the other evidence linking Fred to the crime scene is all supposition and guesswork. So at this stage it is not looking good for the prosecution. There only other option is to disprove the alibi.

Fred van der Vyvfer provided an extremely well documented alibi to the police. This was also used in his plea explanation to the court. He systematically details his whereabouts on the fateful day on which his girlfriend was bludgeoned on the head with a blunt object and stabbed in her neck and chest several times. The full copy of the document is available at the end of this post.

Here is a summary of the timeline showing Van der Vyver’,replica sunglass;s movements on March

March 16, 2005:

7.45am – leaves Lotz’s Stellenbosch flat.

8.43am – sends an SMS to Lotz.

10am – meets Lotz at the university.

10.15am – leaves campus and picks up a cupboard at a furniture store in Stellenbosch for a friend.

11.08am – electronic turnstile records his arrival at work at Old Mutual in Pinelands.

11.09am – his arrival is captured on security cameras.

11.15am – joins a work session that he says is supported by seven statements from co-workers. The session lasts till 5pm but breaks for lunch.

12.30pm – has lunch with co-workers, also supported by a statement from a colleague.

1.08pm – Old Mutual’s computers record his logging on at his work station.

1.24pm – Old Mutual’s computers register his log-off.

2.51pm – receives voicemail while in work session.

3.29pm – retrieves voicemail.

5.10pm – arrives at his desk. This he says was witnessed by a colleague.

5.14pm – Old Mutual computers record his log-on at his work station.

5.33pm – computers record Van der Vyver log-off.

6.05pm – turnstile records register him leaving the building.

6.06pm – his departure from Old Mutual captured on security cameras.

6.15pm – arrives at home in Pinelands.

7.19pm – he and flatmate Marius Botha drop off cupboard in same complex.

7.30pm – his car is clamped.

7.45pm – his car is unclamped and he returns home.

9.03pm – he phones Lotz but her phone goes to voicemail.

9.31pm – he SMSes Lotz.

10.01pm – he SMSes Lotz’s mother, Juanita, to ask about Inge Lotz’s whereabouts.

10.09pm – he phones Juanita Lotz.

There are some facts which you need to consider in light of this alibi:

1) It would take Fred between 80 mins to make a journey from the Old Mutual Building to Stellenbosch and back again

2) Inge was last seen alive at around 3pm when she rented the DVD. Testimony from the store assistants confirm this. She could have been back at her apartment by 3:30pm or so. Some sources state that the workers at the apartment saw her alone at about 4:00pm. I have not had confirmation of this though.

3) Inge’s body was found at about 10:30pm that evening.

Problems with the Alibi

On the surface it looks as though it is impossible that Fred could have got into his car, driven to Stellenbosch, murdered Inge, cleaned up and returned to the office. But there are some questions. Let’s take a look at the evidence so far:

Fred was definitely in the Old Mutual area at 3:29pm when he retrieves his voicemail. This is confirmed by cell records which show he used the cell tower near the office. The next time we can be definite that he was in the office was at 5:14pm when he logged on to his office machine. This leaves a space of 1 hour 45 mins unaccounted for. And this is crucial. Taking into account the travelling time of the 80 mins round trip, he would have 25 mins to meet Inge, commit the murder and then clean up. Now this is not a long time, but is it possible to do – yes it is. Where was he during this time? He claims he was in the training session, but we have not yet heard any testimony from colleagues saying that he definitely was there.

One Old Mutual colleague, Janine von Stein testified that she saw Fred at work at 11am, but she could not recall seeing him in the afternoon. Von Stein said she was surprised to see Van der Vyver before noon at a workshop she facilitated, because she was told he would be attending lectures at Stellenbosch University.

“It was not important for him to be there in the afternoon. I would not have noticed if he left or stayed. Lunch time it is every man to himself,” she said.

Fred claims that he went with a friend to Merriman Furnishers in Stellenbosch at about 10am on the day of the murder, to pick up a cupboard for his friend Jean Minnaar. He claims that he was helped by a shop assistant to carry the cupboard out to his bakkie. However the shop assistant emphatically stated in court that yes they were there at that time, but they left and returned “well after 12pm” to pick up the cupboard. This places Fred in Stellenbosch during the ‘window period’.

So based on the evidence so far, here is how it could have gone: Fred retrieves his voicemail at 3:29pm. He leaves Old Mutual at 3:35pm, arriving at Inge’s home at 4:05pm. There he argues with her, kills her and cleans up. He leaves the apartment at 4:40,Mulberry Handbags, driving back to Old Mutual in time to log on to his computer at 5:14pm. This gives him 35 mins to do the deed. Bear this in mind.

Any incoming messages to his phone during this time could just mean that he left his cellphone at work. Only outgoing calls could place him firmly in any location.

Problems with the Problems

The first problem with this timeframe is that it sounds like the actions of an extremely emotional person. His text message at 01:10pm does not show an overly emotional state of mind. He has already read the letter and it doesn’t seem to have affected him that badly. So what would prompt him to suddenly run out and commit murder?

Secondly, if he indeed did do it,prada handbags, then surely there would have been blood on his clothes. Blunt force trauma always creates blood splatter which would have been on his clothes. Did he have time to change too? If so, where did he get the spare clothes from?

Thirdly, when he returned to the office, would he not be in an emotional state? Why indeed would he return to the office? According to the prosecution this was a crime of passion – spur of the moment. This proposed timeframe would indicate quite a degree of premeditation.

Fourthly is the matter of the security cameras and card readers at Old Mutual. They clearly show Fred entering at 11:09 or so and leaving at 18:06 or so. They do not show him leaving or re-entering at any time in-between. This means that he would have had to sneak past both the cameras and the card readers. Possible? Maybe. Mutual Park admitted that some cameras weren’t working that day, but it would have been impossible for Fred to know which of them weren’t in operation. Unless the whole thing was premeditated, it is doubtful that he left the building.

Fifthly, the testimony of the Merriman Furnishers salesman indicates that Fred went back to the shop “well after 12pm” with his friend. This would severely mess up the very small window that we already have in which something may have occurred. Also the evidence of Fred being at Old Mutual pretty much discounts the salesman’s events.

My Conclusions

This is an extremely difficult case for the prosecution to try. So far they have not had a whole lot of physical evidence, and what they do have has mostly been compromised or discredited.

For the prosecution to gain any ground,Replica Mulberry, it was imperative for them to prove the alibi to be false. It doesn’t appear that they have done this either. There is way to much ‘reasonable doubt’ involved in the alibi so far.

On 17 May, Director Attie Trollip stated that he thought that there was some sort of conspiracy between private investigators working for the Lotz family and with his own bosses at Old Mutual to lean in his favour when the police started investigating him as a murder suspect. Somehow I just can’t believe that so many people would be involved in a conspiracy. Fred was just not important enough or had enough influence to get so many third parties involved in a conspiracy. To me it sounds like they are now merely grabbing at straws.

At this point in the proceedings I just don’t think that the prosecution has done a good job at all. But as the trial continues, we may get to hear a whole lot more.

Coming Soon: Fingerprints and Footprints

To download the full timeline of the alibi, right click this link and select ‘Save As’ or ‘Save Link As’.

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