Cape Town – The first witness in the murder trial of Henri Van Breda, Sergeant Adrian Kleynhans, said there were no signs of forced entry nor blood on the ground floor at the Van Breda home on the night of the triple murder.
Murder accused Henri van Breda's mother, Teresa, father Martin, and brother Rudi all died in the attack when they were set upon with an axe or “similarly sharp object”. His sister, Marli, who was 16 years old at the time, suffered a severe brain injury. She has since returned to school, but has retrograde amnesia and therefore remembers nothing of the events.
Kleynhans, from the Stellenbosch police station, was the first police officer to arrive on the scene at about 7am on January 27, 2015.
Testifying in Afrikaans, he told the court that when he arrived at the house with his gun held at a 45 degree angle, he saw Henri van Breda come out of the house and he instructed him to sit on the ground. The accused “appeared emotional, like he was blowing off steam, and was nervous but wasn’t crying”.
Van Breda, who was dressed in shorts and white socks that had blood splatters on them, also smelt of alcohol, said Kleynhans.
He testified that he found no evidence of forced entry, but also no evidence that someone had cleaned the crime scene.
He said nothing looked out of place on the bottom level of the house. A laptop and handbag, with cash still in the wallet, were on the table. In Kleynhans’s experience it was not a typical scene of a burglary, where everything is usually “deurmekaar” (all over the place).
White walls of 1.3 metres high surrounded the house, but none had scuff marks on them. Kleynhans said a black gate with a key in it, that would have been used by the intruders to exit the property, was closed.
He also saw emergency numbers stuck on the fridge. The axe and the knife used in the attack were shown to him. While he recognised the axe, he said he did not recognise the knife.
Judge Siraj Desai described the axe as one used for chopping wood, about half a metre in length. The axe was entered as exhibit one on Monday.
The bodies of Van Breda's brother and his father were in one bedroom upstairs, and Marli and the mother were lying in the upstairs passage.
Kleynhans said he saw one of the women moving her leg and told his superior to contact paramedics. When they arrived, the scene was cordoned off.
To get medical assistance for Marli, Teresa had to be removed, but the scene remained untouched, said Kleynhans.
According to Henri's version of the events a “laughing” axe-wielding murderer was behind the brutal killings of his mother, father and brother.
Earlier on Monday, Van Breda entered a plea of not guilty in the Western Cape High Court before Judge Siraj Desai.
Staring straight ahead, the 22-year-old appeared tired, but unruffled by the media attention.
Van Breda pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, one of attempted murder, and one of defeating the ends of justice.
Instead, he claimed in his plea explanation, read into the court record by his lawyer Pieter Botha, that an attacker wearing a balaclava broke into their house.
Judge Desai allowed the media to record Van Breda’s plea explanation, but camera operators were ordered out of the courtroom during the first tea break ahead of the first witness being called.
Earlier this month, Desai granted digital publishing house Media24 the right to broadcast live proceedings, but both the State and the defence appealed the decision.
That case is still to be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal. Until then, Desai’s earlier ruling has been suspended.
Van Breda’s plea explanation gave a summary of events that January night, as well as his family history.
Van Breda was the middle child, born in 1994. His older brother, Rudi, was born in 1992, while his sister Marli was born in 1998. All three siblings were born in Pretoria.
In 2006, they emigrated to Perth in Australia. Van Breda matriculated in 2012, by which time his brother was already studying mechanical engineering at Melbourne University.
In 2014, his parents moved back to South Africa as Martin van Breda had started a new company, called Edugrow.
Henri van Breda moved back to South Africa to join his parents on a gap year in August, 2014.
Describing his family as “fairly close knit”, he said they enjoyed doing outdoor activities such as waterskiing together.
His plea explanation detailed the run-up to the attack, describing an ordinary family evening – dinner, and then a movie, Star Trek 2, that he watched with his father and brother.
After the movie, the family retired for the night. Rudi, who was home on holiday during the December break, and Henri shared a bedroom and initially stayed up on their laptops. Once Rudi was asleep, Henri watched an animated show.
He later went to the toilet and heard loud banging sounds. He opened the door and “could make out a silhouette, a person was attacking Rudi with axe”.
“I shouted for help hoping to attract attention.”
He claimed his father then came into the room and lunged towards the attacker. “The attacker was laughing. I heard my mother’s voice saying ‘what is going on?'”
The attacker, he claimed, seemed “unconcerned” about his presence.
He further claimed he wrestled the axe away from the man and was “surprised by how easily I disarmed him”.
The man also had a knife and cut and slashed at his chest, also slashing Van Breda’s left arm.
Van Breda said he managed to strike the attacker with the axe, and he then fled the room. Van Breda recalled his brother writhing on the bed. He also heard angry voices, speaking in Afrikaans.
Marli and his mother were lying on the landing.
Van Breda said he then fell down the stairs. He saw the kitchen door was open and believed there were at least two attackers.
He said he wanted to call emergency services, but had no idea of the number, so called his girlfriend instead. She didn’t answer.
He then found an emergency number, but twice failed to get through. He finally got through from the landline and tried to remain calm. He said he spoke calmly in case the operator did not understand his Australian accent.
He said he went outside to show the ambulance service where the house was. When police officers arrived, he said he told them to go upstairs.
Police took his clothes leaving him in his boxer shorts. His stab wounds were dressed.
Van Breda told the police he thought the intruder was a black person.
Police told the doctor attending to him that they thought his wounds were self inflicted. At the police station, the airconditiong was turned up, so he was “freezing cold”.
He said the police officer told him he did not believe a word of his “bullshit story”.
Van Breda said by the time he signed his statement, he was exhausted and in shock and had not been warned of his rights.
“With the benefit of hindsight, they viewed me as a suspect soon after arriving on the scene. They used my statement as the basis for charging me. At no stage did any of the officers warn me I had the right to remain silent or say I could have legal representation. If I had known, I would have contacted lawyers.”
After Kleynhans's testimony the case was adjourned for inspection on Tuesday at the scene, in De Zalze estate.