Fruit of a poisoned tree: A true story of murder and the miscarriage of justice - Anthony Altbeker (Signed)

In June 2008, Fred van der Vyver, a young actuary and the son of a wealthy Eastern Cape farming family, was charged with murdering his girlfriend, Inge Lotz, allegedly bludgeoning her to death with a hammer while she lay on a couch in her Stellenbosch flat.

The case against Van der Vyver seemed overwhelming. His behaviour at the time of the murder appeared suspicious and circumstantial evidence was damning. A note found at the scene of her death suggested that the two had been fighting. But it was forensic evidence that seemed to prove his guilt. His fingerprints were found at the scene, one of his shoes was matched to a bloodstain on the bathroom floor, and traces of blood were found on an ornamental hammer that had been given to him by the victim’s parents.

And yet, in one of the most sensational and controversial murder trials in South African legal history, Van der Vyver’s lawyers sought to turn the tables on the police, accusing them of fabricating evidence and lying to the judge.

In Fruit of a Poisoned Tree: A True Story of Murder and the Miscarriage of Justice, prize-winning author Antony Altbeker takes you into the heart of this epic courtroom battle. Altbeker’s engrossing account not only fascinates the reader with all the evidence and testimony of the trial, while also placing it in the context of a society and a justice system that are being stretched to breaking point.

Fruit of a Poisoned Tree is Antony Altbeker’s third book about crime and justice in South Africa. His first, The Dirty Work of Democracy, won the Recht Malan Prize for non-fiction and was short-listed for the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. His second, A Country at War with Itself, is widely regarded as the most authoritative popular account of the causes of South Africa’s crime problem and of what to do to fix it.