Season One: Episode 1 - Oscar-Obsessed Amateur detective

Over a holiday break, South African Thomas Mollett reads Antony Altbeker’s “Fruit of a Poisoned Tree” about the murder trial of Fred van der Vyver, accused of the brutal killing of his girlfriend Inge Lotz. Van der Vyver is acquitted. The court finds that the police's forensic work is abyssal.

Something in the text niggles Mollett – he becomes obsessed with the case, manages to obtain the complete police docket and spends the next few months in his flat in Piketberg, near Cape Town, pouring over every single piece of evidence. During the day he retraces Fred’s movements on the day of the murder. Mollet interviews police involved in the original investigation and then writes two books “Bloody Lies” and “Bloody Lies Too” challenging the outcome. The first book leads to self-taught amateur, Mollett, being invited to present his findings to forensics experts at conferences. And then his obsession with the truth leads him to Oscar… and to Reeva.

And what really happened that night. Thomas thinks he has worked it out because, after spending thousands of hours pouring over photographs, he’s seen things the police have missed. Things that lead him to his third book – “Oscar vs The Truth” – which presents compelling evidence that seems to blow everyone else’s version of what happened out of the water. What drives Thomas? Why has he devoted his life to solving crimes that don’t even involve him? The cases are closed, the verdicts are in – and yet still he works. What is he trying to achieve?

Find out here in Episode 1 of First Person.