Bloody Lies daringly challenges one of the most controversial murder cases in recent South African history - the brutal murder of INGE LOTZ.

In 2007 Fred van der Vyver was acquitted of the 2005 murder of his girlfriend Inge Lotz. He then sued the police to the highest court for malicious prosecution – and failed.

Despite the defence’s trashing of the prosecution’s case at the trial, brothers Thomas and Calvin Mollett provide a compelling argument of how every key element of the prosecuting evidence withstands the closest scrutiny. They use models, measurements, forensic tests, mathematical formulae, and the views of experts both here and overseas.

The authors show how an ornamental hammer found in Van der Vyver’s vehicle, but thrown out as evidence, could match Inge’s head wounds. Contrary to the claim accepted in court, they convincingly argue that a disputed fingerprint was not lifted off a drinking glass found in Inge’s flat – a detail that could make all the difference. They demonstrate how blood marks on a towel could have come off the hammer, how bloodstains on the floor could have been shaped by a specific shoe, and how a closer look at cell phone records reveals a different choreography of movements than what was accepted by the court.

What really happened on that Valentine’s evening of 13 February 2013 when Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed in the toilet of Oscar Pistorius’ house? Did Oscar know that Reeva was behind the toilet door? Or did Oscar truly believe that an intruder was hiding behind that door?

In this book, brothers Thomas and Calvin Mollett set out to find the answers by taking a painstaking look at the crime scene and evidence with eagle eyes.

• Was Oscar on his stumps when he broke open the toilet door?

• What do the clothes Reeva was wearing when the paramedics arrived tell us about the crime?

• Which of the witnesses were in the best position to hear screams from Oscar’s house?

• What caused the wounds on Reeva’s back?

• Did the prosecution present all the evidence?

• What does the cricket bat tell us?

• Was Reeva alive when she was carried downstairs?

These are only some of the questions addressed in this full-colour book of 80 000 words and over 500 high-quality images – a book that informs as much as it exposes.

“Excuse me, is there a nearby police station where I can report a hijack because my wife and I were hijacked?”

“The next morning at approximately 07:20 am Constable Mzano Twalo of the South African Police Service found a silver-grey Volkswagen Sharan parked on the side of the road in Sinqolamthi Street, Khayelitsha. On the back seat, Anni lay dead, shot once in the neck.”

“Later that same day at 5:21 pm, without a lawyer present, Qwabe signed an affidavit in which he confessed that the taxi driver, Zola Tongo, with the assistance of Mbolombo, hired him and Mngeni for an amount of R15 000 to kill Anni at the behest of her husband, Shrien Dewani.”

Prior to the trial, Shrien made various statements of his version of events to the NPA, the police, the media, and to his and Anni’s friends and family. By consistently denying his involvement Shrien, in essence, accused Tongo, Mbolombo, and Qwabe of trying to frame him for Anni’s murder. And this is also what the court implied when it dismissed the charges against Shrien. The problem is that Shrien’s version is untested – no one ever asked him tough questions – and unlike Tongo et al., his version was never tested under cross-examination. The case was dismissed before the start of the defence’s case. Shrien obviously had the right not to testify in his own defence or to incriminate himself. Nonetheless, Shrien’s version is in the public record – and author Dan Newling and television documentaries went to great lengths to defend Shrien’s version even prior to the start of the trial.

In this book, the authors will something that has never been done before – and that is to test and scrutinise Shrien’s various and differing versions. Then you, the reader, can make up your own mind as to whether Shrien was involved in Anni’s death or whether he was “stitched up”.

The book ends by asking Shrien Dewani 20 questions. The book also includes a complementary 25-page colour section containing photos and illustrations.

A must-read for anyone interested in this case, as this is the only thorough investigation that has been done on this case since.