Marli alive is ‘a miracle’

STATE RIPS INTO ALLEGED AXE KILLER WITH ‘PRIMA FACIE’ CASE None of the victims tried to hide ‘because attacker was known to them’.

Senior state prosecutor Susan Galloway told the Western Cape High Court yesterday a “prima facie case has been made” in the trial of 23-year-old Henri van Breda accused of the vicious axe attack on his family that left his parents and older brother dead.

The attacks on his parents, Martin and Teresa, and his siblings, Rudi and Marli, were inflicted with the intention to kill and the fact that Marli, who was 16 years old at the time, survived was “not indicative of a lesser attack, but rather a miracle”, said Galloway.

She detailed the security at the upmarket estate De Zalze in Stellenbosch where the axe attacks took place on January 27, 2015.

Despite the fact that the estate was manned by security guards, had cameras on its perimeter, and three manned access points, Van Breda opted to call emergency services at 7.12am, at least two hours and forty minutes after the attacks.

His first phone call had been to his girlfriend Bianca at 4.24am, “a sixteen-year-old minor who lived in a hostel”.

During the almost three-hour time lapse, he did not try and help his siblings, who were still alive, according to evidence. Instead of comforting them, “he chose to smoke three cigarettes”.

Galloway argued that all the family members had similar wounds, but the accused presented with only “superficial injuries on his torso, left arm and back”.

Galloway said there was no evidence of forced entry, nor was there evidence of a “hit”.

The two murder weapons were found at the scene, which according to evidence from the family’s domestic worker, belonged to the family.

She said that the attack on Rudi had been the most violent, which fitted in with police evidence that it was a “rage attack”.

The only two people who had no self-defence wounds were Henri and Martin. This, Galloway, said could be explained by evidence that the attack on the father was a “surprise” one, and that he had moved to protect his son Rudi.

Henri’s wounds, however, were superficial and “self-inflicted”.

She said none of the victims made an attempt to hide or call for help. “That is because the attacker was known to them.”

No foreign DNA was found on the scene.

Galloway also detailed the evidence of the emergency services call operator who testified that Van Breda lacked emotion during the call. “His demeanour was so unusual, the operator thought it was a prank.” She said blood stain analysis also showed that a mixture of both Henri and Rudi’s blood found in the shower of their bathroom was further evidence against the accused. The accused “conceded that the attacker never entered the bathroom”.

She said the two anomalies of the case had been the lack of Marli’s DNA on the axe, as well as the absence of blood on the bottom of Van Breda’s socks.

During the trial, bloodstain analyst Captain Marius Joubert testified it was possible to assault a person and not have a single drop of blood left on you, a point reiterated by Galloway yesterday.

She said that Henri Van Breda had made a poor impression as a witness.

She described him as having “selective memory loss”, able to recall great detail of the attacks in some instances, but in others nothing at all.

Galloway also questioned his explanation of a loss of consciousness for the almost three hours between the attacks and calling for emergency services.

“The accused’s explanation changed at the very end of the trial to epilepsy.” – ANA

Van Breda had made a poor impression as a witness