A cop who inspected the Van Breda home after the triple murder, said Henri van Breda was “quiet and calm” as he explained how an axe murderer had butchered his family.
The Stellenbosch police captain said the house did not look like it had been broken into, as nothing had been stolen and there were no signs of an intruder.
Captain Nicholas Steyn was testifying in the Western Cape High Court yesterday on the tenth day of the trial against 22-year-old Henri, who has been accused of killing his mother, father and older brother with an axe.
His sister Marli, who was 16 years old at the time, survived the attack with severe injuries, but has no recollection of what had happened on 27 January 2015.
Steyn was called to the upmarket De Zalze estate after a report of a break-in.
He told the court when he arrived at the house, he found it strange that cellphones, laptops and small items had not been stolen.
Steyn said he took a number of crime scene photographs.
He described Henri as “quiet and calm” when he spoke to him in the ambulance.
COURT BATTLE: The captain said the accused Henri van Breda looked 'quiet and calm' during questioning and claims it never looked like an intrusion.
Henri told him his version of events: while he was in the toilet, an axe-wielding intruder attacked his brother, his father had come running into the room, and the attacker then turned on him.
Henri claimed his sister and mother also ran into the room and they too were attacked.
Henri told Steyn he confronted the attacker and threw the axe after him as he fled down the stairs, but it hit the wall.
The intruder then fled out the back door, and when Henri returned upstairs and saw his family upstairs, he fainted.
He claimed he Googled emergency numbers when he woke up.
Steyn told the court a “balaclava gang” had been breaking into houses in the Stellenbosch area, but the last of them had been arrested in November 2014.
During cross-examination by defence advocate Pieter Botha, Steyn conceded it was possible for an intruder not to leave a trace on the wall while fleeing the property.
Botha also said there was no blood on Henri’s socks, and Steyn agreed.
The case was adjourned to Monday. Next week, the State is expected to lead medical and forensic evidence.