Henri Van Breda might appear in the Western Cape High Court today, to hear the outcome of his leave to appeal for his triple murder sentence – he is not obliged to be at today’s proceedings.
Henri was found guilty of axing both his parents and older brother to death, and for the attempted murder of his younger sister Marli. The court also found him guilty of defeating the ends of justice for tampering with the crime scene and providing investigating officers with false information.
The attacks took place during the early hours of January 27, 2015 at the Van Breda family home in Stellenbosch’s luxury De Zalze Estate. Van Breda claimed that at least one – possibly two – intruders entered their home and hacked his family to death. He told the court he fought off one attacker and lost consciousness later, only to wake up to find his entire family brutally murdered.
Following a lengthy trial, presiding Judge Siraj Desai dismissed Henri’s version, saying that it was nonsensical that intruders would have entered the home and fled without stealing anything. On June 7, he found Henri guilty on all charges.
He was sentenced to three life terms, one for each of the murders, 15 years for Marli’s attempted murder and a further 12 months on the count of defeating the ends of justice.
If the appeal is unsuccessful, the sentences will run concurrently and Henri will be eligible for parole in 25 years.
Van Breda’s girlfriend, Danielle Janse van Rensburg, recently broke her silence about her feelings on the trial and sentencing. She engaged in an interview with an Australian news show to address the many rumours that have circulated about her boyfriend.
Janse van Rensburg firmly believes that the outcome of the trial was “a gross misconduct of justice”, and that Van Breda is innocent.
Picture: HSM Images