A key police forensics expert in the Inge Lotz murder case denied yesterday that he knew that a bloody mark on her bathroom floor was not made by her boyfriend's shoe.
Bruce Bartholomew, who has since left the force, was testifying in Fred van der Vyver's R46-million malicious prosecution claim against the minister of police.
Van der Vyver was tried, largely on the basis of Bartholomew's findings, and acquitted of the March 2005 killing.
Bartholomew told the court yesterday that he got the impression at a crucial pre-trial meeting with prosecutors, that if there was any doubt over the identification of the mark, the trial would not go ahead.
The police expert said it had "bothered" him at the time that none of the grooves and ridges in the sole of the shoe appeared in the blood mark.
Advocate Dup de Bruyn, appearing for Van der Vyver, put it to him that when he said the mark was made by the shoe, he was not merely making a mistake and that his testimony had been, and still was, malicious.
"I do not agree, my lord," replied Bartholomew.
The case was postponed to April 12.