Three bodies and a ’waterfall’ of blood
THE Henri van Breda trial has led from an outside perimeter fence, through the luxurious De Zalze estate in Stellenbosch, and finally this week to the heart of the gruesome triple murder at 12 Goske Street.
A shocked courtroom heard witnesses describe in poignant detail the lives and deaths of Henri’s father, Martin, mother, Teresa and brother, Rudi.
Marli, the sister who survived despite horrific wounds, is apparently unable to remember anything of what happened during the attack in January 2015.
Paramedic Christiaan Koegelenberg told the court: “In my 39 years of service, this is the worst incident I have ever seen.”
He had been asked to take care of Teresa and Marli who both lay outside Henri and Rudi’s bedroom. Teresa was dead, but Marli showed signs of life.
As he and a colleague moved her away from next to her mother’s body, blood “flowed like a waterfall to the bottom of the stairs”, he said.
In the public gallery, members of the Van Breda family and others bowed their heads as harrowing photographs were handled in court.
The next day, Andre van Breda, Martin’s brother, described a loving, close-knit family, polite children, and a proud father who was an astute businessman with “no enemies to speak of”.
He said: “Martin sent Teresa on a fish-food course. Martin and I were the test rabbits and I must tell you the food was divine.”
As his uncle spoke, Henri’s expression — normally sullen and poker-faced — clouded with emotion for the first time.
Domestic worker Precious Munyongani took the stand, saying the axe found at the crime scene and presented in court looked like the one kept in the scullery.
Henri’s ex-girlfriend, Bianca van der Westhuizen, said her phone was on aeroplane mode when Henri had tried to call her on the night of the murders. Unable to hold back tears, she said on the day of the murders they had gone to the beach together after school.
She said Henri “admired his brother Rudi” but was “closest to his sister Marli”.
The next day, it was Marli’s exboyfriend James Reade-Jahn’s turn. He was asked by Henri’s lawyers to read out a WhatsApp message he had sent to Marli about two weeks before the murders.
“I know I told you everything I always feel or am doing, and right now, I feel like I want to murder the people that are around you at the moment and I am inches away from losing it with them and breaking down completely but I am being strong to help you,” Reade-Jahn read, his cheeks red.
“I wasn’t thinking,” he told the court. “I wouldn’t describe it as the right thing to say.”
He had been trying to comfort Marli after a family fight to do with Marli having gained weight.
Stellenbosch detective Captain Nicholas Steyn told the court the crime scene did not match the modus operandi of the “balaclava gang” that had been operating in and around the town.
Henri said in his plea statement the family had been attacked by an intruder in a balaclava and gloves.
The trial continues tomorrow.