Axe murder accused back in the dock
Triple murder accused Henri van Breda is back in court today. The 21-year-old is accused of axing his parents and older brother to death in their Stellenbosch home in January last year. His pre-trial hearing will get underway in the Western Cape High Court.
Proceedings were previously postponed.
NPA Western Cape spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says this was due to outstanding DNA reports as well as the defence's request for further information from the state.
"We have a refined indictment. It has become clearer that all three of the deceased were hit several times on the head and died on the scene. We also know that the accused had self-inflicted injuries and supplied false information to the police."
Van Breda handed himself over to police in June this year.
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The NPA says it took more than a year for it to finalise the case as investigators wanted to be sure, evidence was strong enough to proceed.
The state confirmed it has 141 people on its witness list.
Ntabazalila would however not confirm whether van Breda's younger sister Marli, was one of the witnesses.
She survived the attack, but sustained serious head injuries and suffered retrograde amnesia.
It is still unclear, whether she can now remember what happened on that fateful morning.
The accused faces three charges of murder, one of attempted murder and a charge of defeating the ends of justice for allegedly lying to police and tampering with evidence.
A provisional trial date has been set for the 6th of February next year.
Henri van Breda also faces charges of drug possession.
He and his girlfriend were arrested for alleged dagga possession on 6 September this year.
Van Breda was granted bail of R1000 and Danielle Janse van Rensburg R200 at their first court appearance.
That case has been postponed to April next year, as the court awaits an assessment report on Van Breda being compiled by the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders.