Cape Town - Western Cape High Court judge Siraj Desai has accepted key testimony by Dr Marianne Tiemersma that triple axe murder accused Henri van Breda's wounds were self-inflicted.
During the trial, Tiemersma testified that the wounds were almost textbook in nature as they were not life-threatening, were parallel, equal in depth, uniform in shape and found in areas away from sensitive areas such as the nipples.
Triple murder accused Henri van Breda listens as judgment is read out in the Western Cape High Court on Monday. PHOTO: Cindy Waxa/ANA Photo
Van Breda claimed that an altercation with an intruder caused the injuries, but Desai pointed out that his wounds were different to those inflicted on the rest of his family and had not been potentially fatal.
"There was no reason for an intruder with a balaclava to wipe out almost the entire family. Violence in the country does not serve as a convincing explanation."
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Desai has methodically been dismissing the defence's arguments and Van Breda's claims that a laughing, axe-wielding, balaclava-clad intruder, also armed with a knife, was behind the attacks.
He has dismissed the claim that a second intruder was there, as well as that a second axe could have been used and found that both the axe and knife used in the attacks came from the Van Breda household.
PHOTO: Cindy Waxa/ANA Photo
Van Breda faces three charges of murder for the January 2015 axe killings of his parents, Martin and Teresa, and brother Rudi, and a charge of attempted murder for the attack on his sister, Marli who was 16 at the time and could not testify as a result of retrograde amnesia.
He faced a further charge of defeating the ends of justice for allegedly tampering with the crime scene and giving police false information.
Desai said the house, situated in the centre of the security estate De Zalze in Stellenbosch, had not been burgled, yet intruders would have had ample time to remove items from the ground floor. He also found there had been no breach of security.
Desai said it was "nonsensical" that an intruder wanting to steal would have gone upstairs to attack the sleeping family.
PHOTO: Tracey Adams/ANA Photo
Van Breda had conceded that nothing valuable was missing and nothing had been tampered with.
He said Van Breda appeared "uncomfortable" at times during his testimony, but confident at others and even sarcastic at one point.
He "did not show a great deal of emotion, even when he demonstrated the attack on his father and Rudi and the altercation he had with the intruder".
Desai said the degree of violence had been excessive and the wounds were directed at the victims head, "a part of the body that has a high mortality rate".
The attack on the accused had not been of the same intensity. Desai said Van Breda had conceded the attack on him had been more restrained.
One of the mysteries in the trial was the fact that Marli's DNA was not found on the axe, but Desai accepted forensic analyst Lieutenant Colonel Sharlene Otto's assertion that "the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".
"The fact that Marli's blood could have been on the axe, but there was not enough to get a sample, cannot be ruled out."
Van Breda appeared to be heavily medicated during judgement on Monday, at times struggling to stay awake.
Judgment continues.