Van Breda’s calmness in emergency call scrutinised
Operator thought call was a prank
Was it a sob or a giggle? And why was he so calm when his family had been axed?
These were the questions flying in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town yesterday after the chilling call that Henri van Breda made to emergency services was played. It was from the morning of January 27 2015‚ when his parents and brother lay dead and his sister was fighting for her life.
Call centre operator Janine Philander testified that she was convinced Van Breda’s call was a prank because he was “hesitant”‚ “cool as a cucumber”‚ “calmly gave details of the attack”‚ and set the tone early in the conversation with “a giggle”. She said about one in seven of the calls they received were hoaxes and Van Breda’s demeanour matched that of other pranksters.
Defence counsel Piet Botha argued that those were her interpretations and claimed the “giggle” was a stuttered form of the word “please” in one instance‚ and a sob in the other.
Judge Siraj Desai said he “clearly heard” some stuttering during the call‚ but Philander said to her it sounded like “hesitation” and that she heard no trace of stuttering.
Desai pointed out to Botha that it came down to personal interpretation and that Philander was entitled to a different opinion and had answered the questions.
Philander: “It sounded to me like he was hesitant‚ that he was thinking of what to say.”
Botha: “The fact that he remained polite is now working against him?”
Philander: “He sounded the same throughout the call‚ no up and down.” She said the initial moments “set the tone of the whole call” and she felt convinced it was a prank.
“Normally callers who phone in with this type of emergency set the tone. There was no interruption‚ no comeback‚ no getting agitated and he didn’t stop me at any time.
“He never brought it up again in any of the conversation that his whole family had been attacked‚” Philander said.
“You were also very calm on the call‚” said Botha‚ “Are you trained that way?” She said yes.
Botha then said: “You have never met my client before. The only time you spoke to him
‘ ‘ Clip sounds even more like a giggle to me now
was during that phone call.”
He said Van Breda stuttered as a child and had been coached to speak slowly and calmly as a technique to overcome this. Botha also blamed social media for creating the impression that what he called a stutter on the tape was a “giggle” and said Philander had been influenced.
Philander confirmed that authorities instead of confronting animals if spotting them outside the boundaries of the first giggle had always troubled her‚ but the second giggle had been brought to her attention by social media.
On hearing the clip again in court‚ she said‚ “it sounds even more like a giggle to me now”.
When Botha asked why she told the police to move “quickly” if she didn’t believe it was a real situation‚ she said: “I wanted them to get there and catch him as I still believed he was a prank caller. I wanted them to move fast while he was still there [to arrest him].”
Desai said: “You get 70 to 100 calls a day. What percentage of those are prank calls?”
Philander said: “In a sixmonth period up to February this year 35 374 crank calls out of 238 000 – about 15%. Those are the ones who stay calm.” the park. “When people try to chase the animal or run away from them it becomes a dangerous situation.”
The park has a compensation policy that pays out in the event that an animal from the park causes damage to private property. The lions reportedly attacked cattle during their outing. “We have good friendly relations with our neighbouring communities and where they are able to prove damage by an animal we pay out.”
He said about 20 incidents occur a year and on an annual basis R400 000 is paid out.
Residents were nervous at having the big cats on the loose. Police advised motorists not to stop at the side of the road until they were recaptured.
Four of the lions were recaptured and a search for the fifth was called off. Pienaar said the fifth lion could have walked back into the park.