Van Breda ‘not likely feigning’

A neurologist has testified that feigning an illness for secondary gain is so unlikely it can be disregarded in the case of 23-year-old triple murder accused Henri van Breda, 23.

Defence witness Dr James Butler testified yesterday that Van Breda undoubtedly had an epileptic seizure on the night his parents and brother were murdered in their Stellenbosch home in January 2015.

He told the court a photograph taken after the murders showed Van Breda had wet his pants. “He said he was not aware of wetting his pants prior to the period of amnesia. That would suggest the incontinence occurred during the period of amnesia, the two hours and 40 minutes.”

Butler told the court incontinence was a frequent feature of an epileptic seizure, but Judge Siraj Desai pointed out it could have been triggered by the events of that night.

Butler said Van Breda would have experienced a “postictal state” after the seizure and his brain would not have been working well, which could explain his lack of urgency when he called emergency services.

Butler said postictal delirium lasts for hours and sometimes days. Three factors contributed to a higher risk of seizure that night – sleep deprivation, too much alcohol and extreme stress. “Those are precipitants for seizures.”

Van Breda said he and his father shared a bottle of wine earlier that night.

Butler conceded there is no medical evidence after a seizure. Senior state prosecutor Susan Galloway said Van Breda could have googled epilepsy to find out more about its symptoms.

Van Breda has claimed an armed intruder was behind the attacks. He said that while pursuing the attacker, he fell down the stairs. After the attacker fled, he went up the stairs and lost consciousness.

Butler told the court the time lapse of two hours and 40 minutes, which Van Breda claimed was the time he was unconscious before contacting emergency services, was not just amnesia. “It’s more than amnesia. That could be a seizure of two minutes and then a severe postictal period. Or it could be a long seizure of up to 40 minutes and then the rest of the time was the postictal period.”

The trial stood down two weeks ago after Van Breda’s seizure on November 8. He was diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. – ANA