Appeal by Van Breda uncertain following judge’s finding of guilt

IT is unclear whether Henri van Breda will appeal against the guilty verdict delivered by Judge Siraj Desai in the Cape Town High Court on Monday.

Van Breda, 23, was found guilty of the murder of his mother Teresa‚ 55, father Martin, 54, and brother Rudi, 21.

He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of his sister‚ Marli‚ now 19‚ and defeating the ends of justice. Desai read only a summary of the judgment in court.

Van Breda’s attorney‚ Lorinda van Niekerk‚ said yesterday she had not yet received the summary or the full judgment.

“I can’t say if we are going to appeal,” she said. “We have to wait [for] the judgment.

“We must study the verdict and then we still have the sentencing procedures.”

Asked how Van Breda was after his first night in custody‚ she said the last time she saw her client was at court on Monday.

“I don’t know [how he is]. He is in police cells‚” she said.

Criminal defence lawyer William Booth said Van Breda was likely to spend many years behind bars.

“In terms of the minimum sentencing laws, [as] this is premeditated murder, the potential sentence is life imprisonment unless an accused can submit substantial and compelling factors to persuade the court to impose a lesser sentence‚” he said.

“However‚ it is going to be a considerable job to get Henri anything less than life – we are talking about three murders.

“Then you’ve got the attempted murder‚ which is a serious one‚ as well as defeating the ends of justice. Direct imprisonment for those offences could also be imposed.”

Meanwhile, Marli’s court-appointed curator, advocate Louise Buikman, said Marli would not comment on the guilty verdicts.

“At this moment, I do not believe that it is in Marli’s best interests to comment.”

Marli‚ who was 16 at the time of the triple murder, will turn 20 in October.

According to forensic pathology reports‚ it was clear from her wounds that she put up strong resistance to Van Breda’s attack in January 2015.

She clung to life for several hours while her brother delayed calling emergency services‚ and turned out to have a cracked skull and a severed jugular vein.

She underwent emergency brain surgery and was kept in a medically induced coma for several days.

A month after the murders, she started to be able to identify people in family photos‚ but she suffers from retrograde amnesia about what happened.

Van Breda is due back in the high court on June 5 for sentencing.