CLPEX Chat Board

Big Wullie wrote:Antonrolland

This, of course, does not mean that mistakes do not happen as is all too evident with the Lotz / van der Vyfer tragedy but let us not go there.

The Fred Van Der Vyver case was not a mistake made by S/A Experts, It was a deliberate attempt to tamper with evidence and frame an Innocent man.

This is a bold statement to make...possibly not entirely untrue but we can only speculate in hindsight. Personally I would not summarily discount any hidden or dark agendas but I was not there and neither were you.

The print found did not come from a flat surface (DVD) as suggested by the S/A Experts but came from a rounded surface such as a glass.

Absolutely agreed. While I did not follow the media or rumour mill, I saw all three the reports and there can be no doubt.

To me this is a deliberate attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Possibly! Alternatively and / or simultaneously, how about confusion caused by an inexperienced guy processing the scene without proper supervision and the added benefit of high profile case pressure and seniors wanting results? Let us again not discount hidden agendas here...

If I was defending Dewani I would be highlighting this case to its maximum till I was blue in the face.

With what relevance? Are the facts in the Lotz case relevant to the Dewani case? Further than the fact that people can make (stupid) mistakes?

It is not so much the AFIS could be hacked into that worries the likes of myself, but the fact experts in S/A can provide false evidence and they are rarely challenged, until the Fred Van Der Vyver case that is.

Oh we are challenged very regularly by some defense attorneys, of that I can assure you!

I would also be highlighting the findings of the Scottish Judicial Enquiry chaired by Sir Anthony Campbell: http://www.thefingerprintinquiryscotlan ... /3127.html

Will go and read this...

I would not trust a S/A Fingerprint Expert as far as I could throw him.

True, they are about as bad as Scottish experts!