‘Too scared to help my family’

‘Why not shout and tell your mom and sister to run away? You did nothing’

EVEN when the “vicious” intruder who hacked his father and brother to death went for his mom and sister, he did nothing.

State prosecutor Susan Galloway yesterday asked triple-murder accused Henri van Breda several times why he had stayed in the corner of his room and watched a man leave to go after his mother, Teresa, and his sister, Marli.

“I didn’t do anything,” Van Breda answered.

Galloway then asked Van Breda why he didn’t attempt to warn them about the intruder, to which he responded: “If I was thinking clearly I probably would have – if I hadn’t been so scared.”

Judge Siraj Desai also asked Van Breda why he did nothing, saying instinctively people would try to save their loved ones.

“I can understand that you were scared, but why not shout and tell your mom and sister to run away? You did absolutely nothing,” Judge Desai asked.

Van Breda responded by saying: “I don’t know.”

In the Western Cape High Court, Van Breda testified that he saw a balaclava-clad, axe-wielding man attack his brother first.

“I pulled the (bathroom) door open and could see the silhouette of someone who appeared to be hitting Rudi.”

Van Breda said he then shouted a “random” something, before the light was switched on and he saw it was his father, Martin.

Van Breda said he then saw Martin lunge toward the alleged attacker, before he was hit several times on his head.

Galloway said: “Your scream was loud enough for your dad to hear you, but the attacker ignored you?”

Judge Desai asked Van Breda why he did not help his father overpower the attacker.

“I was too scared,” Van Breda said, again.

Galloway then asked Van Breda whether the attacker noticed him standing in the corner of the room when this was happening.

“I didn’t notice him noticing me,” Van Breda said, and added that the attacker never went for him.

According to Van Breda the intruder then left the room and went after his mom and sister.

Van Breda said yesterday he could not see how they were attacked as it happened out- side the room in which he was, and he stayed standing in the corner.

The intruder then came back into the room and looked around before spotting him.

The intruder then lifted the axe, but Van Breda managed to disarm him.

“I grabbed his wrist and got hold of the axe,” he said.

Following the murders, Van Breda said he smoked three cigarettes to calm his nerves while searching the internet for emergency numbers.

The trial continues today.