Axe murders: Girl, 16, fights for life

150127. Cape Town. Police forensic investigators are seen on a murder scene at De Zalze Gholf Estate in Stellenbosch. Three members of a family were alledgedly hacked to death by another family member. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus

150127. Cape Town. Police forensic investigators are seen on a murder scene at De Zalze Gholf Estate in Stellenbosch. Three members of a family were alledgedly hacked to death by another family member. Picture Henk Kruger/Cape Argus

Published Jan 28, 2015

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Cape Town - Pupils at Somerset College in Somerset West were “traumatised” on Wednesday morning as news filtered through that a popular 16-year-old pupil was still fighting for her life in hospital after her parents and brother were attacked and killed in their home in the De Zalze Golf Estate in Stellenbosch.

The murder has shocked the “happy bubbly community” in Somerset West, said the school’s principal Meg Fargher.

The grade 11 pupil was admitted to the trauma unit of the Vergelegen Medi-Clinic in Somerset West on Tuesday afternoon after sustaining multiple wounds to her head. It is suspected the family was attacked with an axe.

When she was found at the house she was barely alive, according to sources.

Hospital spokeswoman Carla Hanekom said on Wednesday that the girl was in “critical, but stable condition” and that they were “hopeful that she would make it”.

Fargher told the Cape Argus on Wednesday morning that pupils at the school were asking questions.

“You know, typical questions you would expect. But mostly, why did this happen? They are very sad, they are worried and they are feeling traumatised.”

Not only was she a popular pupil, Fargher described her as gregarious and fun. Her parents, Martin and Teresa van Breda, had been very involved with the school, providing support to teachers and boarders. “They were well-known to the community. Very interested parents, contributing parents,” she added.

In the wake of the murder, the school’s pupils and teachers were focusing on her recovery.

“We are putting her at the forefront. Our thoughts are with her.”

The school held a chapel service on Tuesday and Wednesday to allow students to pray for the injured girl.

There were still questions about the brutal murder inside the house, said De Zalze’s homeowner’s association after a blood-spattered axe was found at the two-storey home and a 20-year-old man, found with scratches running down his arms, was taken in for questioning by police.

There was no sign of a break-in.

Police spokesman Colonel Tembinkosi Kinana said there had been no new developments in the case by Wednesday morning. No arrests had been made at the time of going to print.

Martin van Breda, 55, his wife Teresa, 54, and their three children Rudi, 22, Henri, 20 and their sister, 16, recently returned to South Africa from Perth, Australia.

Neighbours in the upmarket development, where houses can fetch around R12 million, speculated that they were no longer safe in security estates, but the estate’s homeowner’s association has called the attack “an isolated incident, confined to the scene of the crime”.

Chairman Eben Potgieter said he had checked with security and there were no signs of a break-in. He wanted to allay widespread fears that this was a home invasion.

“But we refuse to speculate on what happened. This is all we know so far.”

His expression was grim as he recounted Tuesday’s event. At around 7.30am, a police car arrived at the estate’s front gate to check on the family’s home.

There was no indication by Tuesday night who had called the police. But Potgieter said a domestic worker, busy at the house opposite, had spotted a man on the phone. She claimed there was blood on his arms.

Security escorted the police through to the house where the bodies of the parents and Rudi were found.

“We haven’t been inside so I cannot say where they were found.”

An ambulance was quickly called in, and Marli – who according to sources was barely alive after sustaining multiple wounds to her head – was rushed to hospital.

Western Cape EMS spokesman Robert Daniels said: “We believe (the wounds) were caused by an axe.”

Potgieter said they had been in touch with her school’s principal and were told she had been transferred to the nearby Vergelegen MediClinic’s trauma unit where she was still in a critical condition.

Martin van Breda was working as an MD for the luxury estate agency Engel & Völkers in Perth.

Rudi was studying a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne in Australia and he was a member of the Mechanical Engineering Student Society. His Facebook profile reveals that he was an athletic and sociable person, part of both a rugby team and a rowing team.

According to residents the family was set to fly to Perth this month.

 

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