Fred’s lawyer pens book

BARRY Pienaar SC put pen to paper to document one of the most talked about and arguably the most controversial criminal trials in South Africa to date.

In Freddie Boy: The Untold Story, Pienaar explains exactly what it was like to defend a man he believed from the outset was innocent – a notion most people still disagree with.

Pienaar was part of the team that represented Stellenbosch actuary Fred van der Vyver, who, before he even walked into the Cape High Court to stand trial in February 2007, had already been labelled a murderer.

Had SA relied on a jury system, Van der Vyver would likely have been convicted.

Instead, Pienaar and fellow PE advocates Dup de Bruyn SC and Terry Price SC achieved the near impossible – Van der Vyver’s acquittal on a charge of murdering his girlfriend, Inge Lotz.

Pienaar is soft-spoken and humble, but when he talks he demands respect.

One colleague said of Pienaar: “When he talks, you can’t quite help but give him your undivided attention.

Outside the courtroom he is no different. Across from his desk in his office at the Advocates’ Chambers in Bird Street in Port Elizabeth, Pienaar says he is proud of the book. In chapter one he asks readers for a small indulgence; to imagine Van der Vyver is indeed innocent.

Freddie Boy, launched last month, is about lawyering and Van der Vyver’s criminal and civil trials, which lasted up to 10 years.

“I decided to write the book when we were still busy with the trial but only got around to it when I spent some time in the Drakensburg last year,” Pienaar said.

He said writing the book was enjoyable, but with it being nonfiction, it was tough at times.

“One must obviously be careful to be sensitive. I spoke to Fred before I published and he was fine with it.”

Pienaar said he had the greatest respect for the Van der Vyver and Lotz families who, despite their grieving, had somehow managed to treat each other with respect.

Pienaar boldly admits that through years of criminal work he only truly believed that two of his clients were innocent. Van der Vyver is one of them. “With years of experience you come to know when a person is lying.

“People often ask how we can defend the guilty – through the book I wanted to explain the life of an advocate.”

Pienaar grew up in Cradock. His father was a doctor. “I did not want to be a doctor so law was the next option.”

He received his LLB in 1980. He started his career as a prosecutor in the PE Magistrate’s Court in 1981.

In 1982 he climbed the ladder to become a state advocate in the Grahamstown High Court before going into private practice. He completed his pupilage in 1984.

In the 80s, Pienaar defended hundreds of political activists.

But it was after defending an activist who had necklaced an informer that he decided to turn his focus to civil law, a decision he does not regret today.

Taking on Van der Vyver’s case some years later, Pienaar found himself putting his criminal hat back on – albeit briefly.

The legal team, together with a group of expert witnesses, tore apart the state’s case – an exercise which cost Van der Vyver close to R9-million.

They managed to prove that Van der Vyver’s fingerprint was lifted from a glass and not a DVD cover, as alleged by police, that a bloodstain on the bathroom floor of Lotz’s flat did not match Van der Vyver’s takkie, and that an ornamental hammer belonging to him could not have been the murder weapon.

Unfortunately, justice is not the same for all. If Van der Vyver had not been able to afford his expert witnesses and a strong legal team, he very well might have been convicted.