The blood speaks in Van Breda murder trial

Evidence: Splatter shows Van Breda's shorts, socks were 'close to victims'

12 September 2017 - 06:20 By Tanya Farber
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EXPRESSIONLESS Murder-accused Henri van Breda listens to blood splatter expert Captain Marius Joubert giving evidence at his trial in the Cape Town High Court.
EXPRESSIONLESS Murder-accused Henri van Breda listens to blood splatter expert Captain Marius Joubert giving evidence at his trial in the Cape Town High Court.
Image: Jaco Marais/Gallo Images

A pair of grey shorts and white socks worn by Henri van Breda were "exposed to multiple blood-shedding events" and urine was also found on the shorts.

Captain Marius Joubert was giving evidence on Monday at the trial of Van Breda in the High Court in Cape Town. Van Breda is accused of murdering his parents and brother at their luxury home at De Zalze in Stellenbosch in January 2015.

He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister who had traumatic brain injuries and has retrograde amnesia as a result and cannot testify.

The shorts and socks have been a much-awaited focus in the case ever since the National Prosecuting Authority referenced them in June 2016 when Van Breda was finally arrested - 17 months after the murders took place.

Spatters on shorts were “saturated in
urine ” which had fully
penetrated the fabric of the shorts

Reading from a hefty file, blood spatter expert Joubert said he had come to the conclusion the blood spatters suggested the grey shorts "were in close proximity to Rudi [Henri's brother] and Martin [Henri's father] when force was applied to the blood source of those victims".

Some of the spatters on the shorts were "saturated in urine" which had fully penetrated the fabric of the shorts. It was not clear from his testimony whose urine it was.

Joubert reported that 16 "mechanisms responsible for bloodstains" were identified on the white socks which Van Breda was wearing early that morning when he called emergency services for help.

At the "back of the white socks", it was found that they (the socks) had been exposed to "blood-shedding events in close proximity to Teresa [Henri's mother] and Rudi too" when forces were applied to those victims.

It was also suggested that the socks were in contact at some point with Martin van Breda.

As Joubert read the report in minute detail, Van Breda sat expressionless in the dock, spinning his ring, which he had removed from his finger, around and around.

Public interest in the trial seems to have waned with the gallery almost empty on Monday.

Joubert's appearance came as a major relief. His recent illness had led to a lengthy postponement.

He read from his report for about four hours on Monday, pausing only briefly for a few questions from state prosecutor Susan Galloway or Judge Siraj Desai.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

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