Irked judge wants Henri trial over

An exasperated Judge Siraj Desai says he wants "to get on with my life" after a two-week delay in the Van Breda murder trial on Tuesday in the Cape Town High Court.

Henri van Breda stands accused of axing his parents and brother to death, and leaving his sister for dead, in their luxury estate home in Stellenbosch in 2015.

The state finished leading evidence in chief a few weeks ago, and the defence was set to complete its own this week.

However, Van Breda had a seizure last week before being diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, and now his neurologist, James Butler, needs more time to put his report together.

Court will sit again on November 27.

When Desai said: "I want to get on with my life," Van Breda's advocate, Pieter Botha, replied: "So do I."

Desai said at the start of Tuesday's session he wanted the defence's evidence in chief done and dusted by Friday, but after it came to light that Butler needed time for his report, Desai "reluctantly" agreed to grant such time, but said he wanted it "done with no further delays by December 1".

At stake is the crucial point of the "lost" two hours and 40 minutes when Van Breda claims he lay unconscious after his family had, he claims, been brutally attacked by a laughing man in a balaclava.