Shock twist in Stellenbosch axe killings

08 February 2015 - 02:00 By Shanaaz Eggington
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SLAIN: The Van Breda family, from left to right: survivors Henri and Marli, and next to them Rudi, Teresa and Martin, who died in the axe attack. File photo
SLAIN: The Van Breda family, from left to right: survivors Henri and Marli, and next to them Rudi, Teresa and Martin, who died in the axe attack. File photo
Image: Supplied

Axe attack survivor Henri van Breda's injuries were self-inflicted.

And he only called emergency services four hours after his brother and parents were murdered.

These are two of the shocking details the Sunday Times has established in the wake of last month's gruesome family killings in Stellenbosch.

During the critical four hours before 20-year-old Henri reported the crime, his younger sister, Marli, lay fighting for her life with severe head injuries and a severed jugular.

Henri's parents, Martin and Teresa, and his 22-year-old brother, Rudi, were killed in the horror attack at their luxury golf estate home on January 27. Sixteen-year-old Marli is making good progress in hospital, where she is under police guard.

This week, sources close to the police investigation revealed that the official police injury form completed by the doctor who examined Henri after the murders states that the scratches and bruises on his arms were "self-inflicted".

It has also emerged that the murders took place on the exclusive De Zalze estate at about 3am. Henri called emergency services at 7.30am.

Henri told the emergency services call operator that his family had been "attacked by a guy with an axe".

"They're unconscious ... and bleeding from the head, please, please," he says on the call, during which he sounds calm. A recording of the call was posted on news websites.

Police have established that the axe used as the murder weapon was brand-new. Now they are on a hunt to find out where it was bought and by whom.

While investigators wait for Marli to recover enough to make a statement, Stellenbosch lawyer Lorinda van Niekerk from Cluver Markotter confirmed that she had been hired to represent Henri (below).

 

Sources close to the investigation said Henri - who reportedly underwent a brain scan in Australia last year - was recently a patient at an exclusive mental health and drug rehabilitation centre in Loevenstein, Bellville.

Blood samples taken from him hours after the murders are being tested for the presence of drugs or alcohol.

Martin and Rudi's bodies were found in a pool of blood in one bedroom. Teresa and Marli were found on a balcony. Teresa, who was wearing a bra and panties, was declared dead at the scene. Marli was rushed to hospital with severe head and neck injuries.

Carla Hanekom, a spokeswoman for Mediclinic Vergelegen in Somerset West, said Marli (pictured below), a Grade 11 pupil at Somerset College, was making remarkable progress.

Sources said that although she is awake and is receiving nourishment, she cannot talk yet as her jaw and neck are extensively damaged.

Marli's fragile emotional state and her physical condition have so far prevented police from taking a statement. Sources said that once her statement was taken, an arrest would be made.

 

A police guard has been placed outside her door and no one is allowed to see her except doctors and nurses.

Police are keeping everyone, including close family, away from her as they do not want her to be influenced by anyone before she gives her statement.

Nurses have put up photos of her family on the walls of her room. Sources said she cried when she looked at them.

But, sources said, there were no pictures of Henri on the wall.

 

Marli's uncle, André van Breda (above), who is Martin's twin brother, told reporters attending the memorial service for the murdered Van Bredas in Pretoria on Thursday that Marli was communicating by moving her eyes.

Henri also attended the memorial service, where he had to be sneaked into the church to avoid the media.

André told those attending that Henri was "heartbroken and traumatised".

"I promised Henri I won't drop him," said André. "We as the family are Henri's backup and we will support him."

Ben Rootman, a spokesman for the family, confirmed that a top legal team had been assembled to represent Henri.

"Advocate Pieter Botha, a member of the Cape Bar Association, and Lorinda van Niekerk, senior associate at Cluver Markotter, have been appointed," he said.

 

The Tijger Clinic rehab centre were Henri is said to have stayed last year, boasts en suite bedrooms with satellite TV and air-conditioning. Situated on Tygerberg Hill, giving it panoramic views of Cape Town and Table Mountain, it costs R3000 a day, excluding doctors' consultations, and treats a variety of conditions including drug and alcohol addiction, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and psychotic mood disorders.

"The clinic is set up to create a homely environment to restore hope and clear the mind," reads its website.

The bodies of the Van Bredas have not yet been released to the family. This usually happens when there is a chance that a second postmortem might be required by police or if the defence team in a murder investigation asks for a second, independent postmortem.

Colonel Andre Traut, a police spokesman, said yesterday that police were making progress, but there was no new information that could be shared with the public at this stage. "We are conducting a thorough investigation," he said.

eggingtons@sundaytimes.co.za

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