Van Breda time lapse attributed to epilepsy

THE MARATHON trial of 23-year-old triple murder accused Henri Van Breda is finally drawing to a close and was postponed in the Western Cape High Court yesterday after the defence closed its case.

Judge Siraj Desai postponed the trial, which has spanned 63 days, to February 12 to give the State and defence time to prepare arguments in what he described as a “complicated case”.

Neurologist Dr James Butler finished his testimony adamant that in his opinion malingering (or feigning illness) in this case was highly unlikely and that a diagnosis of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy was without doubt.

As the final defence witness, Butler was called to testify about Van Breda’s diagnosis of epilepsy after he experienced a seizure on November 8 and was admitted to hospital for a weekend of tests.

Butler told the court he believed Van Breda had a seizure on January 27, 2015, when his parents and older brother were murdered, and his sister seriously injured.

He testified that a seizure and “postictal state” (in which the brain is dysfunctional) could account for the two hours and 40 minute time lapse in Van Breda’s timeline of events.

Van Breda claims an intruder armed with an axe and a knife was behind the attacks. He said in his plea explanation that during the pursuit of the attacker, he lost his footing and fell down the stairs. “I do not know what made me fall, but my fall was quite severe.”

After the attacker fled, and after trying to phone his girlfriend without success, the accused said he went upstairs, where he could hear his brother Rudi in the bedroom. On the landing he saw his sister Marli moving.

“I then lost consciousness. I am unsure whether this was due to shock or to the injuries that I sustained when I fell down the stairs, or a combination of both.”

Butler told the court earlier this week that the time lapse was not just amnesia. – ANA