Van Breda tells his version
A BLACK intruder dressed in dark clothes, a balaclava and gloves.
This is the person that accused axe murderer Henri van Breda is blaming for the murder of his parents, Martin and Theresa, his brother, Rudi, and the attempted murder of his sister, Marli.
Giving his version of events on that fateful night in January 2015, Van Breda pleaded not guilty in the Western Cape High Court to three charges of murder, one of attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice.
He said prior to the attack, he and his family had an ordinary night on where his dad opened a bottle of wine while his mom prepared dinner. His
sister, Marli, was spending the night in her room. After dinner he said the three Van Breda men watched the movie Star Trek 2 and afterwards called it a night.
“We all went to our rooms; we usually keep the doors open. Rudi and I were on our laptops. Rudi went to sleep.”
Van Breda said after a while he went to the bathroom and took his cellphone to play games. While in the bathroom he heard a loud banging noise coming from Rudi’s room.
“The person was attacking Rudi with what I later learned was an axe. I shouted for help. Dad entered the room. He tried to get in between the attacker and Rudi. The attacker was laughing while attacking my dad. He was laughing seemingly unconcerned by my presence,” said the murder accused.
At some point during the attack his mother screamed “Wat gaan hier aan?” (What’s going on here?).
Van Breda said he had no recollection of how his mother and sister were attacked.
He recalls wrestling with the intruder.
“I was surprised at how easily I was able to disarm him of the axe. He had a knife in his right hand. We pushed and pulled one another and he slashed my left arm and chest. I struck his right shoulder with an axe, holding it backwards and it hit him, but it was with the blunt side.”
Van Breda said that after the attacker fled the room he heard angry men speaking in Afrikaans. He lost consciousness and woke up to see it was light outside.
Van Breda is accused of the murders and the attack on his sister, which left her critically wounded.
She has since recovered, but seemingly lost all memory of the attack.
Stellenbosch police station sergeant Adrian Kleynhans testified yesterday that he was one of the first responders.
“A person came out of the house. He was wearing shorts and white socks that had blood stains on them. He was very nervous, cried a bit. He was very emotional.
“He said he was not alone, his mom and dad had been attacked with an axe and I needed to go and check. You could smell alcohol on his breath.” The axe was yesterday handed in as evidence.
The police officer said there was no sign of forced entry or housebreaking.
It was only after he went up the stairs that he saw the axe and bodies of the women. The two men were in a bedroom.
“When I went through the house to check for forced entry I went to the kitchen. The TV was still there, laptop on the table and an expensive bag was also not taken – in a housebreaking those would have been gone.
“At the back of the house they have a high wall and a gate, which was still locked.
“No one could have gone out through the back, they had to go back inside the house.”
The case moves today to Van Breda’s home in De Zalze Estate in Stellenbosch where an inspection in loco will take place.
Kleynhans will continue his testimony today. –