Van Breda : many questions still to be answered

Eighteen months after the murder of his parents and brother – they were axed to death – the National Prosecuting Authority has revealed in the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court some of the macabre details.

The 21-year-old was in court for a bail hearing yesterday.

NPA spokesman Eric Ntabazalila told the court that the DNA in the blood on Van Breda’s clothing was that of the victims.

“It is for that reason we charged him with the murders,” he said.

Van Breda was granted R100 000 bail.

He is accused of the murder of his millionaire father, Martin, his mother, Teresa, and his brother, Rudi.

He has also been charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Marli, and with attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The killings were at the family’s home at the lavish De Zalze Estate in Stellenbosch on January 26 last year .

Van Breda handed himself over to the police on Monday afternoon.

Ntabazalila said the police had told his lawyer of his imminent arrest, and it had been agreed that Van Breda would report to the police station instead of waiting to be arrested.

According to the indictment, “an axe and kitchen knife [both from the Van Breda family home] were recovered from the scene”.

But forensic scientist David Klatzow said that stronger evidence was needed.

“In itself [the DNA matching] is not damning evidence,” he said.

“It is not surprising to find the blood of three dead family members on the clothes of another family member.

“The real evidence would be the blood spatter – and whether it is a fine mist, big gushes of blood or something else,’ Klatzow said.

“That is what is really going to draw this story in forensic terms.”

Police competency has been questioned after more than a year passed without an arrest.

The case will go to the Cape Town High Court on September 9.

There have been allegations of theft of key documents from the Stellenbosch Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, which dealt with the investigation, and criticism of the time it has taken for an arrest to be made.

“I want to know if there is any truth in [reports that documents were stolen from the police],” Klatzow said.

He had been very alarmed that the case had repeatedly been referred by the police back to the NPA for decisions.

Whoever was first responsible for gathering evidence “did it inadequately, so the prosecutor sent [the police dockets] back”, Klatzow said.

The indictment said raised voices had been heard at the family’s home on the evening of January 26.

At 4.24am the next day Henri phoned his girlfriend, who did not answer.

“At approximately 4.27am [Henri] did an internet search on Google, looking for emergency numbers,” the document read.

It also revealed he had what were described as superficial self-inflicted wounds, including knife wounds.

“[Henri van Breda] tampered with the crime scene, inflicted injuries to his person and supplied false information to mislead the police as to the true identity of the perpetrator.”