Pretoria memorial for slain family

Teresa and Martin van Breda. A private memorial service will be held at the Dutch Reformed Church in Moreleta Park in Pretoria on Thursday.

Teresa and Martin van Breda. A private memorial service will be held at the Dutch Reformed Church in Moreleta Park in Pretoria on Thursday.

Published Jan 31, 2015

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Pretoria -Three family members murdered in their exclusive Stellenbosch golf estate home this week will be remembered in Pretoria this week.

Spokesman for the family Ben Rootman confirmed that a private memorial service for Martin van Breda, 55, his wife Teresa, 54, and the eldest of their three children, Rudi, 22, would be held at Dutch Reformed Church, Moreleta Park, at 11am on Thursday.

Their daughter, who sustained an axe wound to her head and a severed jugular, is in a critical but stable condition in Vergelegen Medi-Clinic, while their other son, Henri, remains in the care of an uncle where he is receiving counselling.

The triple killing has made headline news in several countries where Van Breda had business interests.

Publications in Australia and the UK published articles on the killings and a college in Melbourne posted on Facebook that the Van Bredas had been killed during a home invasion.

Van Breda studied engineering and founded Netstar, which was sold to Altech. He started Woodhill College in the city, which he later sold to the Curro group for R185 million before the family moved to Perth, Australia.

It has been reported that he had planned to start a chain of affordable private schools to improve education in South Africa.

Police have not revealed a motive for the attack and by late Friday had not made any arrests.

Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said: “There is currently no update on this case.”

Details have emerged about the extreme measures in place at the De Zalze Golf estate where the family were living that would have made it exceptionally difficult for anyone to gain entry.

On its facebook page, the club said there was no breach of security and that it was an isolated domestic incident.

Pretoria News Weekend

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