Van Breda and team visit axe-murder scene

THE man on trial for murdering his wealthy family with an axe was taken yesterday to the home where his parents and brother were killed.

Henri van Breda is accused of hacking his parents, Martin and Teresa, and his brother Rudi to death at the house on a Stellenbosch golf estate.

When his trial opened on Monday, Van Breda, 22, denied the murders and said he had fought off a masked intruder who broke into the home.

Trial judge Siraj Desai led an inspection of the crime scene accompanied by Van Breda, lawyers, court officials and police. One defence lawyer demonstrated that an exterior fence could easily be scaled.

Reporters and photographers were not allowed inside the house.

“We needed to take the judge through what was found and what was where,” National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said after the visit.

The attack left Van Breda’s sister Marli, then 16, with near-fatal injuries and suffering amnesia.

On Monday, Van Breda said in a court statement that he had passed out after disarming the attacker.

The trial continues.