Book about Van Breda case shut

progressed, most recently at the close of the State’s case when advocate Susan Galloway indicated that the teen- ager would not be testifying for or against her brother, who is accused of murdering her mother, father and brother and attempting to murder her in their Stellenbosch home in January 2015.

“Her reason is because she has no recollection of the events,” clarified Buikman.

Sixteen at the time of the attack, Marli stunned paramedics and her doctors with a miraculous recovery from severe head wounds. Although she is fully functioning enough now to write her matric exams, she still has retrograde amnesia, which has left her with no memory of the murders.

Buikman says she was alerted to the “flagrant contravention” when she was sent excerpts of the book by one of Marli’s relatives last week Friday. She subsequently received a hard copy of the book.

She confirmed that Marli’s father Martin’s twin brothers from Pretoria, André and Bailey van Breda, have also voiced their objection to the book. A well-placed source says they are seeking legal advice about allegedly slanderous statements in its narrative.

Henri shed his first tears of the trial during the opening week in May when André provided glowing testimony for Henri and his slain family.

Since then, neither André van Breda nor the rest of his extended family, who watched his testimony from the gallery, have returned to the Western Cape High Court.

Nel has attended some days, but Henri’s sole remaining supporter on most days of the 56day trial has been his maternal uncle, André du Toit. Sitting alone in his familiar spot in the far front corner of the gallery, he was Henri’s only support this week during gruelling cross-examination by the State. He strikes a lone figure who publically doesn’t interact with Van Breda family members.

According to Die De Zalze Moorde extracts seen by the Weekend Argus, Rabie writes about an interview with Henri at Magica Roma restaurant in Pinelands in September. This was at the time the State was leading evidence against him.

The book also makes a number of disclosures that never saw the light of day in court, says its promotional blurb, including one that Martin feared for his life.

This contradicts evidence before the high court from both Henri and André that neither Martin nor the family had any enemies.

A screengrab of the SABC video filmed during the crossexamination of triple murder accused Henri van Breda in the Cape Town High Court. Van Breda was demonstrating how an intruder used the axe.

Author Jaap Rabie.

Marli and her brother Henri now have regular contact nearly a year after the crime that rocked the country.