The Van Breda murders were the killings of three family members and serious injury of another on 27 January 2015 at a golf estate in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, South Africa. After a year and a half of investigations by the

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the provincial borders, and a Provincial Commissioner is appointed in ea ...

, the family's youngest son, Henri Christo van Breda, surrendered to police in June 2016 and was released on

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

the next day. Henri was found guilty of murder, attempted murder, and

obstruction of justice Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...

on 21 May 2018 by the

Western Cape High Court The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over th ...

. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the three murders; 15 years' for attempted murder; and 12 months' for obstruction. The sentences are to run concurrently.

Murders

On 27 January 2015, Martin van Breda, 54, the managing director of the Australian branch of

Engel & Völkers Engel & Völkers AG is a privately owned German company that, via a series of franchised offices, provides services related to real estate transactions. Engel & Völkers was founded under the name Engel & Cie in 1977 in Hamburg, Germany. The c ...

, his wife, Teresa, 55, and their eldest son, Rudi, 22, were found dead in their home, victims of an axe attack. Their daughter, Marli, 16, was in a

critical condition Medical state is a term used to describe a hospital patient's health status, or condition. The term is most commonly used in information given to the news media, and is rarely used as a clinical description by physicians. Two aspects of the patien ...

having sustained serious head injuries. The family's youngest son, Henri, 20, was slightly injured in the incident with only minor lacerations to show. According to court papers, Henri called his girlfriend at 4:42 a.m., which went unanswered, and then searched the Internet for local emergency numbers. Almost three hours later, he made a call to emergency services, exclaiming, "My ... my family and me were attacked ... by a guy with an axe." The audio recording of this conversation with emergency operators was made available by local broadcaster

eNCA eNCA, also known as eNews Channel Africa, is a 24-hour television news broadcaster owned by e.tv that focuses on South African, African stories and events. The broadcaster became South Africa's first and most watched 24-hour news service af ...

a few days after the attack.

Investigation

Police arrived on scene, where emergency services declared Van Breda's parents and brother dead. Marli, who suffered severe

head trauma A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

in the attack, was rushed to an intensive care unit. Over the course of a few months, extensive surgery and further medical treatment saved Marli's life; she was later diagnosed with

retrograde amnesia In neurology, retrograde amnesia (RA) is a loss of memory-access to events that occurred or information that was learned in the past. It is caused by an injury or the onset of a disease. It tends to negatively affect episodic, autobiographical, ...

and has no recollection of what took place on the evening of the attack. An axe and a knife, both identified as coming from the Van Breda residence, were recovered at the scene. It was determined that no forced entry was apparent. According to police, Henri was dressed in a pair of sleep shorts and white socks covered in blood, the DNA of which was a match for his parents and brother. The court papers read, "It is believed that after the commission of the crimes, the accused tampered with the crime scene, inflicted injuries to his person and supplied false information to the police in order to mislead police as to the true identity of the perpetrator."

Aftermath, rearrest and trial

Marli spent months undergoing intensive physiotherapy and eventually returned to school, but was kept separated from her older brother, with both parties residing with family members. Henri continued to plead innocent while local news outlets reported that he had a " tik addiction". According to the '' Sunday Times'', police investigated a number of possible motives, such as Henri's allowance possibly having been cut off by his parents. The ''Times'' tracked down a man who claimed to have been Henri's drug dealer and reportedly identified him from a photograph, saying that he had been a regular customer. Henri allegedly spent time at an upmarket

drug rehabilitation Drug rehabilitation is the process of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. The general intent i ...

centre in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. After a year and a half of investigations, police called Henri's lawyer to inform her of her client's imminent arrest unless he handed himself over to police, which he did on 13 June 2016. According to reports, Marli's legal representative and curator said, "The news is understandably very distressing to Marli, the family want justice to take its course.” On 14 June, Henri appeared in the Stellenbosch Magistrate Court to face three charges of murder and one of attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice.

Bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countrie ...

was set at R100,000 and Henri was released under the conditions that he report to his local police station regularly and not leave the

. A pre-trial hearing was held at the

in September 2016 and the case was postponed until November as state prosecutor Susan Galloway requested more time to obtain outstanding computer and DNA evidence. Henri and his girlfriend, Danielle Janse Van Rensburg, were arrested on 6 September 2016 by

Table View Table View is a West Coast suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, named after its view of Table Mountain. It has expanded rapidly since the 1970s and has extensions such as Flamingo Vlei, Sunridge, West Riding, Parklands, and Killarney. Table View h ...

police for the possession of

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...

and were granted bail of R1000 and R200 respectively. The case of drug possession was heard on 12 October at the Cape Town Magistrate Court and was postponed due to outstanding documentation. On 4 April 2017, the state's trial against Henri van Breda started in the Western Cape High Court with him entering a not guilty plea. During testimony describing his recollection of the events, Henri claimed he and the family were attacked by "an axe-wielding black man, wearing dark clothes, gloves and a balaclava-type mask". One month before the trial started, presiding Judge Siraj Desai ruled in favour of an application by media group

Media24 Media24 is the print media division of the South African media company Naspers. It controls Naspers' newspaper and magazine Southern African publishing and printing activities, including Internet publishing of the 24.com collection of web portal ...

to broadcast the trial. However, due to appeals by both the

National Prosecuting Authority The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) is the agency of the South African government responsible for state prosecutions. Under Section 179 of the Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998, which established the NPA in 199 ...

and the

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

, the order was put on hold until the matter was resolved.

Verdict

On 21 May 2018, the court delivered its verdict through Desai, finding Henri guilty on three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and defeating the ends of justice. He was immediately taken into custody instead of temporary release until sentencing, in the interest of society, to be transferred to

Pollsmoor Prison Pollsmoor Prison, officially known as Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, is located in the Cape Town suburb of Tokai in South Africa. Pollsmoor is a maximum security penal facility that continues to hold some of South Africa's most dangerous c ...

's hospital section. He was under treatment for

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

and depression following the murders.

Sentence

On 7 June 2018, Henri van Breda was sentenced to three life terms in prison by Desai in the Western Cape High Court for the murders of his mother, father and brother; fifteen years for attempted murder on his sister and a further twelve months for obstruction of justice. On 8 June 2018 he was transferred from

to the

Drakenstein Correctional Centre Drakenstein Correctional Centre (formerly Victor Verster Prison) is a low-security prison between Paarl and Franschhoek, on the R301 road 5 km from the R45 Huguenot Road, in the valley of the Dwars River in the Western Cape of South Africa. ...

, where he will serve his sentence.

Appeal

On 7 November 2018, the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Henri's application for leave to appeal his conviction and sentence.

References

External links

Emergency call between Henri van Breda and dispatchers
{{coord, 33, 58, 32.3, S, 18, 49, 47.6, E, type:_region:, display=title 2015 murders in South Africa 2015 in South Africa Axe murder Familicides South African murder victims