Mystery over axe in Marli’s attack

VAN BREDA CASE: NONE OF GIRL’S BLOOD ON WEAPON

Stain expert’s testimony could support Henri’s claim that he was not near when sister was attacked.

The state’s final witness, bloodstain analyst Captain Marius Joubert, told the Western Cape High Court yesterday that there were no signs of a second axe being used on Marli Van Breda on the night her brother and parents were murdered in their family home in the security estate de Zalze in Stellenbosch.

He testified a fleeing intruder would have left a trail of drip marks, but there were no signs of blood to support that theory.

Marli, who was 16 years old at the time of the January 2015 attacks, was hit eight times with an axe. The state believes it was the same axe used to murder her parents and brother. But her brother, 22-year-old Henri van Breda, who is on trial for the murders, claims an intruder, possibly more than one, was behind the attacks.

None of Marli’s blood was found on the axe used to kill parents Teresa and Martin, and brother Rudi. Joubert said the fact that none of her blood was found on the murder weapon was inexplicable. Furthermore, her blood was not found on Henri’s socks or shorts, unlike the blood from the other family members.

Earlier, evidence in the trial also showed that Henri, Rudi and Teresa’s DNA were found in the shower, but defence advocate Piet Botha told the court his client would not have had enough time to clean himself and move his brother’s body without stepping in blood. No blood was found on the bottom of Henri’s socks.

Joubert testified last week that bloodstains at the crime scene indicated that Rudi had been moved from his bed where he had been attacked and shoved around, possibly because of anger the attacker was directing at his victim.

Yesterday, Joubert conceded that this was merely his opinion as he was not a behaviour analyst.

He told the court that Marli was facing her attacker but that he could not exclude the possibility that her attacker came from outside the room. This would fit in with Henri’s version that he was not near his sister when she was attacked.

Senior state prosecutor Susan Galloway told the court Marli had indicated she did not want to be a witness for the defence.