Van Breda axe-murders: 'Masked man was just a stereotype'

 Apologising for her sarcasm, prosecutor Susan Galloway asked Henri van Breda on Wednesday if his description of the man whom he alleged murdered three of his family was not suspiciously "stereotypical".

"It boils down to an unknown black man wearing gloves and a balaclava," she said.

Van Breda, who turned 23 on Wednesday, is accused of murdering his parents and brother in a frenzied axe attack at their luxury home in Stellenbosch in January 2015.

When asked: "How did you know he was black when he was so covered up?", he replied: "The deep contrast between the whites of his eyes and the skin around his eyes."

"Why didn't you just say: 'I saw so little I couldn't determine his race'?" asked Galloway.

Van Breda claimed that he had said words to that effect but police colonel Deon Beneke, who took his statement, "was not happy with ambiguous answers" and that was when he labelled the attacker "black".

Galloway highlighted several differences between Van Breda's plea explanation and his statements in court.

He was quizzed about where he was during the attacks because his statements on this differed. He was also asked about the whereabouts of family members, which seemed to have changed from his initial statement.

Galloway questioned Van Breda about his smoking and leaving ash and cigarette butts on the floor. His parents did not allow him to smoke inside the house.

"Is it because your parents were now dead, so it didn't matter if you smoked inside the house?" asked Galloway.

Van Breda said he was smoking to be "able to communicate on the phone with emergency personnel because [I] was struggling to speak and was breathing heavily".

Van Breda re-enacted what he said was the way in which Rudi was hacked to death. He was later asked to do the same regarding the murder of his father.

Galloway asked: "Why didn't you help [them]? You were the only family member who matched the alleged attacker in size."

Van Breda: "I wasn't thinking clearly."