Van Breda cracks in dock

Henri van Breda sat smoking in the kitchen while waiting for emergency services rather than trying to help his family members - two of whom he claims were still alive and all of whom were bleeding profusely.

This saw Van Breda cracking for the first time in the witness stand on Monday - his last day under cross-examination - in the High Court in Cape Town.

Prosecutor Susan Galloway also said that scrapes on his back and a bump on his head, which he claimed were from a "fall down the stairs", were actually consistent with his sister Marli's defensive wounds

"When you attacked Marli, she defended herself. The bump on your head is from a blunt-force injury - possibly a fist - and Marli had evidence on her right hand from a fist fight", said Galloway, adding that it was strange that he claims he was unconscious for almost three hours but failed to mention that to the doctor he saw that evening.

Later, she asked a question that had Van Breda looking very uncomfortable: How could Rudi van Breda, brutally attacked with an axe that delivered several blows to the head, manage to roll up a duvet and place it over a knife?

The state alleges Rudi had died quickly from the attack, but the defence has him staying alive for some time after - a claim that puts him in place to push a knife under a bed, drag a duvet, and move himself off the bed.

State witnesses have already testified that it was likely Van Breda himself who had dragged his brother's body across the floor and changed the crime scene.

When Van Breda said in court on Monday it was Rudi who had moved the duvet, Galloway said: "You do consider that the duvet was almost rolled up and placed on top of the knife? There is no trail whatsoever of it having been dragged."

She also asked how the axe was so bloody that it left a trail on the wall when Van Breda claims he threw it at his attacker, and yet not a single drop of his family members' blood had ended up on his torso in the scuffle just before that.

Earlier in the day Galloway slammed Van Breda for several holes in his story, which she concluded were "incriminating", and concluded that whenever convenient he said
he "couldn't remember" something or that the police had taken down his statement incorrectly.

For example, she said Van Breda's new claim was that Rudi lay on the bed "gurgling" and "making violent movements" after the attack, when before he said he was just lying there; If Rudi was incapacitated or deceased, he would not have been able to move himself off the bed, and there is no space in the timeline in the plea statement that would have the alleged attacker doing it before fleeing. This would mean Van Breda had done it.

She also questioned why, if this was the case, Van Breda had made no mention of Rudi still being alive in his "emotionless" phone call to emergency services.

"You took the trouble of telling them your sister was still alive but make no mention of brother Rudi whom you now claim was gurgling and moving around violently from his injuries?" she asked.