THE NIGHT I MET HENRI

The intense public interest in the Van Breda murder case led to us to try to track down the mysterious Henri van Breda to hear how he was coping after the murder of his family. How did he feel about the fact there had been no arrest? And what was he doing with his life?

We soon discovered Henri was starting a new life at a culinary school in Cape Town.

Strangely, in the same week we uncovered this information I found myself in a social setting in the same street as Henri – a complete coincidence after I’d tried to find him for so long!

I’m not sure I would have recognised him had I not worked so intensely all week on his story. That night he was just another young patron at a popular hangout spot in Bree Street in the Mother City and blended in with the crowd.

In person he’s taller than I’d imagined, with curly, sandy hair and blue eyes. He was also much leaner than he appeared in photographs, he was well dressed and his demeanour was confident.

He walked into the restaurant where we were with a blonde girl. Henri, his female companion and other friends noticed the people at my table and I trying to take pictures. We couldn’t stop ourselves from openly staring at him.

He didn’t seem in the least uncomfortable or embarrassed and simply stared back at us.

Suddenly his tall frame was at a door near our table. I turned around, my back towards him, but I felt his eyes burning into me. He appeared to be angry, as if he wanted to say something, but after staring intently for a short while he turned and went back into the restaurant.

Claudia Katz, head of Capsicum Culinary Studio in Woodstock, Cape Town, where Henri was a student, declined to comment on the latest developments. “Refer to the particular student’s attorney,” she said. “Let me say that again: refer to the particular student’s attorney.”