Van Breda found guilty beyond reasonable doubt
HENRI van Breda has been found guilty of murdering his parents and brother‚ and of attempting to murder his sister‚ in 2015.
He was also found guilty of defeating the ends of justice.
Van Breda’s brother Rudi and father‚ Martin‚ were found hacked to death in an upstairs room of their luxury estate home in Stellenbosch on January 27 2015. His mother‚ Teresa‚ and sister Marli were found “nearby in the doorway” close to the same room.
Marli survived the attack. The judgment‚ read out by Judge Siraj Desai‚ came yesterday in a packed courtroom at the Cape Town High Court.
From beginning to end‚ with the odd exception‚ it was a damning report for both Van Breda and the case presented by his defence.
Desai mapped out a judgment that left no room for doubt.
He said it was “highly unlikely” that an intruder could have breached the perimeter of the De Zalze estate. He questioned the wounds on Van Breda’s body‚ which were deemed “self-inflicted” by two “highly professional” and credible expert witnesses. He made reference to an aggressive fight heard by a neighbour on the night of the attacks‚ and to Van Breda’s emotionless state in court “even as he described the fatal blows to his parents and brother”.
Van Breda stood trial for a total of 66 days in what was one of the most sensational murder trials the country has seen.
In his judgment, Desai said it would be odd for an intruder to try to wipe out an entire family and yet “leave one member” with so little harm.
He said Van Breda had tried neither to help nor to console his family members‚ displaying “a peculiar lack of empathy” by instead phoning his teenage girlfriend.
He said there was “no credible evidence that an intruder entered the estate” on the night of the incident and that‚ with regard to other aspects of the case‚ there was “no reason to reject the evidence of the state witnesses”.
Even if he “had a seizure” that night‚ that was after the murders and thus had no bearing on the case‚ said Desai, adding that Van Breda would have had ample time to tamper with evidence.
Each piece of evidence “on its own” might not have been enough to convict Van Breda‚ said Desai‚ but “cumulatively” there was only one reasonable inference that could be drawn from all the evidence and testimonies – and that was that Henri van Breda was guilty.
The judgment comes more than three years after news of the brutal attacks shocked the country.
On January 27 2015‚ Van Breda placed a call to emergency services. On their arrival‚ they found a scene more at home in a horror film than real life. His parents had been savagely attacked with an axe and had bled to death on the first floor of the luxury home. His brother lay lifeless on the floor‚ his major head injuries also clearly inflicted with an axe.
Still alive‚ though barely, was his sister, who was rushed off in an ambulance.
Soon‚ news of the triple murder spread across the estate. It then spread like wildfire through the concentric circles of their family‚ the Stellenbosch community and the country. The shock waves reached Australia too, where the family had lived for several years‚ and the UK where close friends began following the news of what had happened.
Rumours began to proliferate about the “problematic middle child” of the well-to-do Van Breda family‚ and the unlikelihood of such a tightly guarded security estate being the site of such a gruesome attack. It took around 18 months for an arrest to be made‚ and with it began a procession of DNA experts‚ police officers‚ forensic pathologists‚ domestic workers‚ neighbours‚ and scores of other witnesses – including Van Breda himself.
This long wait culminated in yesterday’s guilty verdict.