The Lotter Trail: The final chapter

It was that time again in the car and off to Durban for the final saga in the Lotter trail. I would have liked to cover the judgement the previous week but had to attend my brothers marriage so I had to settle for the sentencing.  

Hardus Lotter stood in the entrance to the holding cells for a long time before the court started. He stood there the whole time reading his bible. His sister Nicolette hid behind the wall while his co accused Mathew Naidoo hid behind the opposite wall. They waited for the judge to enter every time before the came into court and in so doing prevented the photographers from snapping good pics of them, because as you know we can only photograph while the judge is not in court. 

Nicolette Lotter only came out when she wanted to speak to a family member or friends that were sitting next to the accused bench.

Ds. Willem Lotter the uncle of Hardus and Nicolette gave a very moving testimony for a ligther sentence to be given to the Lotter siblings. He said that it took him and his wife some time to come to terms with the gruesome murders and to forgive the Lotter siblings for what they did. As a sign they gave Hardus the present of forgiveness while he was still in jail awaiting trail on his 21st birthday.

Nicolette Lotter wanting to speak to her lawyer when court adjourned for a short while. 

Nicolette speaking to family and friends as well as her uncle Ds. Willem Lotter.

Mathew Naidoo leaving the court room when court adjourned for a while.

Nicolette coming up from the holding cells to speak to family and friends.

Hardus waiting for court to start.

Mathew Naidoo mockingly told his advocate "Thanks Vijay" after he was sentenced to life in prison. 

Hardus and Nicolette says their last farewells in court after they were sentenced to 12 years (Nicolette) and 10 years (Hardus) respectively in jail. Nicolette received 12 years on both counts of murder and Hardus 10 years on both counts, the sentences will run concurrently. Hardus will only be able to apply for parole in 6 years and Nicolette in 10 years. 

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Die afrikaanse artikel deur Dries Liebenberg wat in Beeld verskyn het kan gelees word by: http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Oom-getuig-oor-obsessie-met-toordery-20120319

The Lotter trail

DAY ONE

Nicolette Lotter in the Durban High Court. She stands accussed, with her brother Hardus Lotter and ex boyfriend Mathew Naidoo, for murdering her father and mother.

I covered the court case from Tuesday the 8th of November till Thursday the 10th of November. Whilst I was in court, on my first day (34 degrees and humid, welcome to Durban, hehe)  Matthew Naidoo (accused nr 2) came across as being very arrogant in his cross examination. He continued to deny most of the allegations even though he wanted to change his plea to guilty the day before. I found this very strange and I am still not really sure what he tried to achieve when he wanted to change his plea.

Mr Mathew Naidoo.

Nicolette and her brother, Hardus always read the bible whenever she entered the courtroom.

Mr. Hardus Lotter the brother of Nicolette Lotter.

Another thing that I was very surprised by was that I didn't find any "monsters" in the court room, but rather a pretty girl, even maybe beautiful depending on what you consider to be beautiful (maybe beautiful in a crazy im gonna eat your liver kind of way, hehehe). The reason I say this is because when you hear "murder" you immediately form a picture in your head of what a murder should look like and these three didn't really meet my minds expectations.

THE NEXT DAY

The next day in court Naidoo finished his testimony and another witness was called to the stand. The witness was a Pastor that the Police call in whenever suspects in custody ask for spiritual guidance. The reason he was called in was to council the three accused after they were arrested.

The Pastor then counselled all three accused and testified that he did a prayer of deliverance and drove out demons that were possessing their bodies. Yes I know its weird. I also had to bite my fist to hold back the laughter. But the Pastor was very serious in his testimony and stood by what he said.

Nicolette with her Council.

Naidoo was a very strange character for me. Every day he had something to say to the photographers and camera crew that were busy photographing and filming him. His favourite was can you please not use flash it hurts my eyes. HAHAHA Needles to say I still used flash whenever I wanted to. O yeah and the old cliché, that he decided to utter on the last day, "so when are you guys going to get a real job", really so original. 

Naidoo consulting with his counsel and mother.

Hardus was a strange one. I battled to get a interesting photo of him everyday because he rarely did anything except read his bible. The creepiest part of him was his eyes that shows very little emotion, even when he smiles.

The picture above really freaked me out after I took it. The reason being is Nicolettes expression. I almost got the feeling that I captured the hidden personality behind the composed well spoken front that we saw in court every day.

DAY THREE

On this day i decided to focus a bit more on Nicolette as it was her turn on the stand.  She started her testimony the day before where she said that from 2001, when their new domestic worker started working for them, she was in the grip of witchcraft. Her reason for this is that her domestic worker was the one that putt this witchcraft over her. She said that she always felt that their was some or other "thing" that forced itself spiritually on her and then raped her. This continued from 2001 up until 2007 when she met Naidoo. Apparently after the first time they were intimate this other force disappeared. She met Naidoo whilst seeking help for her witchcraft problem at a friend of a friends place. Theses friends of friends were the people that prayed for her so that the evil spirit will leave her alone.

She also said that Naidoo was the self proclaimed 3rd son of God. She said that Naidoo would speak in other voices that were angels and sometimes demons, and sometimes God. She said that every time he spoke in one of these voices or wait rather that every time one of these entities spoke through him, his tone of voice, facial expressions and character would change. She says that this convinced her that it must be true.

  

Hardus Lotter consults with his counsel

Nicolette says goodbye to friends and family after the case was finished for the day and postponed  till the 5th of March 2012.

Everything in this blog is me the photographers own opinion and not always the opinions or views of the publications I work for.

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Moord-op-ouers-was-lank-pynlik-20111026

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Lotter-egpaar-het-gru-dood-gesterf-hoor-hof-20100617

http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Seks-verdryf-haar-demone-20111109