Cop grilled over axe murder scene
Van Breda defence highlights ‘inconsistencies’
DISCREPANCIES in the testimony and initial statement made by the first respondent to the De Zalze murder scene, Sergeant Adrian Kleynhans, were highlighted during cross-examination by the defence team.
Henri van Breda stands accused of killing his parents, Martin and Theresa, and his older brother Rudi. His sister Marli was left critically injured, two years ago.
Van Breda appeared calm, and his uncle, André du Toit, was also present in court. His defence advocate, Pieter Botha, spent day four of the axe murder trial grilling Kleynhans on alleged inconsistencies in a statement he had made on the day of the incident compared with a testimony he made in court last week.
Botha put it to the court that the sergeant was creating an impression that the 22-year-old murder accused was guilty.
Botha pointed out that in his initial statement Kleynhans said the back door and windows in the house were open, but during his testimony in court he said the two were “slightly open”.
The defence also questioned the sergeant on the state in which he said Van Breda was in at the time of arrival at the scene. He read out the initial statement which said the accused was very traumatised, but in court Kleynhans testified that the accused was emotional and nervous. He did not include traumatised.
Botha said: “Is it possible you made these mistakes because your memory is not good? Or is it because you are trying to mislead the court?”
Kleynhans said the back door was slightly open. He said he only opened it further when he went back to the scene to search for the perpetrator. He said he neglected to add that detail in his testimony because he had already informed the investigating officer and it was the investigating officer’s responsibility to inform the prosecutor.
“I don’t remember everything. It’s been more than two years. It is human to forget. The statement I wrote as I saw. The mistakes were unintentional,” said Kleynhans.
The sergeant stuck to his version that the accused was nervous and emotional. He said when he spoke to the accused on arrival it seemed that he was blowing off steam. He said Van Breda was trembling.
A second witness, Lorenzo Afrika, was called by the State. Afrika works at De Zalze Estate. He is responsible for the safety, alarm response and maintenance including electric fences and the green steel gates at the houses. Afrika said the electric fences were in working order and no intruders were observed or had activated the system on the estate on the night of the murders.