South Africa - Martin, 55, Theresa, 54, Rudi van Breda, 22, murdered, 26 Jan 2015 #4

[JudgeJudi]

HvB repeatedly says that the wording of the statement is not correct. That’s tough luck for him because it’s his responsibility to ensure it is correct. All witness statements end with wording to the following effect:

This statement made by me accurately sets out the evidence that I would be prepared, if necessary, to give in court as a witness. The statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I will be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything that I know to be false or do not believe to be true.

But diddums wanted to go home so couldn’t be bothered whether it was accurate or not. Too bad, so sad.

 

[JudgeJudi]

#VanBreda says he didn't say Martin jumped on the attacker when he entered the room.

#VanBreda says he isn't sure if he heard the attack on his mother. He may have told police that at the time, he concedes.

#VanBreda says he isn't sure if he heard the attack on his mother. He may have told police that at the time, he concedes.

Van Breda says he could not see the passage where Teresa was attacked.

#VanBreda doesn't agree with the timeline of his scuffle with the attacker. He says he gave police an accurate version of how it happened.

[url]https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-henri-vanbreda-faces-tough-cross-examination-20171106[/URL]

 

[PrimeSuspect]

https://twitter.com/ajnarsee

H:this is one thing that might have been malicious the fact that they didn't mention a second attacker

H: I told them what I told the court, that I heard voices

J Desai: when you read the statement again, why did you not bring it to their attention?

J Desai: the second attacker, would have helped them to track down offenders
H: I'm surprised that it was not here

H: I am surprised that it is not here, the way I recall it from memory is that it was in my statement

H: I can't categorically say I had no arguments with my brother and sister, but none serious or recent

G: when you can't give an alternate explanation, your memory becomes vague- it can be termed selective memory loss


https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

Desai: why then did you sign statement? At the time I was happy with it, it made sense. I couldn't provide info on 2nd attacker

H: I'm surprised to see missing information in the statement, overlooked it when I signed. I did tell Beneke about 2 attackers

G: you never picked up on omission of second attacker? H: I didn't notice the omission

G: Looking at testimony in court, statement and plea explanation, there are differences throughout. Your memory becomes "vague"

 

[JudgeJudi]

#VanBreda says he was answering questions put to him by police. Says he was pushed to sound more sure of things than he actually was.

H: This is one thing that might have been malicious the fact that they didn't mention a second attacker

"I wasn't aware of the bump on my head" - Van Breda

#VanBreda says he specifically mentioned second attacker, but didn't notice omission when he signed. Spoken at length about 2 attackers.

Galloway says when Van Breda cannot give an alternative explanation, his memory becomes vague. No, he says.

Galloway suggests he has selective memory loss, especially in terms of incriminating parts of State's case against him.

Van Breda: OK.

#VanBreda asks for Galloway to repeat the question, after she asks him if "OK" is all he has to say. HVB denies this is the case.

You had ample time to find explanations in terms of State's case against you. #VanBreda says if he cant recall, he can't recall.

Galloway concludes cross examination. Adv Botha to redirect in the morning. Court adjourned.

[url]https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-henri-vanbreda-faces-tough-cross-examination-20171106[/URL]

 

[PrimeSuspect]

https://twitter.com/ajnarsee

G: in certain events, like fight with attacker, you could direct the attack

G: incidences of memory loss are more likely when there is incriminating evidence against you in the states case

H: I think that is wrong

G: the blood spatter evidence, State of scene and tool mark analysis does not support your version

Botha: objects again, saying the question is vague

H: I'm not taking opportunities to be vague when I see it to my advantage

Galloway concludes cross examination

Botha says he needs time to prepare. Court adjourns till 10am


https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

G: It is the details of certain events you cannot remember, but clearly remember the details of the fight? Selective memory loss

H: I'm not taking opportunities to be "vague" as to be seen to my advantage.

Cross-examination by the State concludes. Court is adjourned

 

[JudgeJudi]

Henri was stuck on a 23 minute emergency call when he had two alternate 24 hour emergency numbers on the fridge.

#VanBreda is on the King's Speech of emergency calls, getting nowhere slowly, and yet he never considers a better, closer alternative?

#VanBreda refers to asking for multiple ambulances=how he was trying to help Rudi. But took 5 min for operator to see ambulances not for him

"I didn't think that I could help them." - Henri #VanBreda Or was it: "I didn't think that they could/would help me..."

Galloway puts it to Henri that Marli fought him off, hit him with her fist. Henri starts to stutter. Answers: "Ok...Ok..."

Excellent point: why not mention to the doctor treating you that you'd passed out for more than 2 hours?

“This misrepresentation is as a result of me having repeated my story& then filling in bits of information”

Oooooh...so blood was transferred through the house by the cops.

#VanBreda wipes nose, sips water. What's your issue with me not having blood on my socks? I didn't step in blood. Presume Sasha didnt either

Desai asks Henri about a blue, blood-stained shirt in boys' room. #VanBreda said it was Rudi's sleeping shirt, and that he removed it.

Someone just emailed me: can you believe he has just said that he knew EMS had arrived as Sasha barked!

Galloway: I'm not asking the witness to speculate. He was there!

He wasn't between me and the...suppose, blood source.[Henri pulls a face at having to describe a family member as a blood source.]

Another inconsistency. He originally said he didn't notice blood, now he's stepping around pools of blood. Botha jack-in-box now.

#VanBreda deliberately avoiding stepping in blood. Seems like the only deliberate thing, on his version, he did all day that day.

Henri stares at the ceiling. Tedious isn't it? Galloway requests a recess as she prepares to move to another line of questioning.

https://twitter.com/HiRezLife

 

[JudgeJudi]

Galloway: What should the court make about your testimony in court, and the preceding few days. Henri says he doesn't understand.

#VanBreda signs police statement on day of murders so he can go home.Galloway juxtaposes that with endless debate in court. Is he credible?

Galloway referring once again to minutiae in Henri's police statement. What's true? What's not?

I suspect Galloway is going to compare her previous cross-examination on this statement, to this one. How good is his memory?

Galloway going through police statement line by line. Almost like an English teacher, except mistakes could get you jail time.

“I didn't use those exact words. We've gone through this before." Galloway: Yes, we're going through this again, Mr. Van Breda”.

#VanBreda concentrating on a transcript of his police statement as Galloway reviews it all for 2nd time. Student-Henri props elbows on dock.

#VanBreda criticising the bad grammar of the statement. This is the real criminal in this case, poor English, bad 2nd hand storytelling?

Zero mention whatsoever of Sasha the dog in his police statement. Not in his plea either. Was dog locked outside during incident?

#VanBreda and #OscarPistorius both have absence of dogs in common. Dogs usually indoors, sleep indoors but not during murder/s. & no barking

Galloway goes through #VanBreda's description of attacker. Henri says it might be malicious of cops not to have mentioned 2nd attacker.

The incidents of your memory loss only applies to the incriminating parts of your case. Henri answers: "No, I think that's wrong."

The state rests.

https://twitter.com/HiRezLife

 

[JudgeJudi]

RSBM

G: in your evidence you consulted Dr Van Zyl in the eve after murders?

G: Why did you inform her of loss of consciousness?
H: I wasn't interested in talking to anyone

H: I don't recall talking to the doctor it as a long time ago

https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

But he remembers every handgrip,foot placement and how the attacker turned his head when he and the attacker were fighting. Sure, sure.

 

[JudgeJudi]

https://twitter.com/ajnarsee

H: I felt I would be doing more by other means, like getting numbers myself

G: but in the fridge there was a 24 hour emergency life, no of security control, security managers, and medical support no?

G: there is atleast two 24 hour emergency number, and you date saying this is of no assistance?

H: I thought it would be a quicker more direct way of getting help

H: an ambulance would actually be able to help

G: were you hoping Marli and Rudi were alive?
H: I was hoping so

G: you did not mention this in the EMS call, only mentioned Marli

G: the cigarettes you smoked?
H: I lit the first cigarettes while dialing


https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

G: You must have considered 24 hour emergency number and doctor on fridge? H: thought I could get ambulance quicker

H: I thought i would call for help directly, quicker response this way

G: You made no mention of Rudi during emergency call, only Marli?

H: Lit first cigarette while dialling, can't recall lighting second and third


https://twitter.com/HiRezLife

Henri was stuck on a 23 minute emergency call when he had two alternate 24 hour emergency numbers on the fridge.

#VanBreda is on the King's Speech of emergency calls, getting nowhere slowly, and yet he never considers a better, closer alternative?

You couldn't make it up if you tried. He could have rung security while he was in the toilet. He didn't because he wasn't in the toilet. He was too busy doing other things. They could have caught the intruders when they ALL left the house.

As for ringing for medical help directly because he thought he'd get a quicker response, how can he expect the court to believe that when he told the court he couldn't Google properly. That too is a lie. Try Googling "emergency" and jumbling the letters up. I tried "meregency". What do you get ... emergency. Other combinations of letters still get emergency. That's so easily proved to be yet another whopper.

 

[JudgeJudi]

RSBM

https://twitter.com/ajnarsee

G: why not go outside and shout or check on your family members?
H: I was doing the most I could

J Desai: would someone not have come to help if you shouted?
H: I supposed Ms Op't Hof would have come, wouldn't be helpful

H: I didn't think I could help them, what I was doing was the most help I could have given

No, he wasn't doing the most he could. He could have run outside and shouted for her to ring ambulance and police while he rang security to stop the attackers leaving the estate. The house was in the middle of the estate so they would need at least a few minutes to escape.

Most adults do, or should, know not to move a person with head injuries and he said as much. However, a person with horrific injuries like that would go into shock. Surely something could be placed over them to keep them warm until help arrived.

Last BIB. In his mind he was doing all he could do to help them ... which was nothing ... in order for them to bleed out and die.

 

[bleuboy]

Thanks for the tweets. Even though I always watch it I always manage to miss certain things so I like reading the tweets too. After Botha redirects tomorrow, is it closing statements,/arguments that is left?

 

[JudgeJudi]

G: During the call, you said that family members have head injuries but "my sister is moving". You did not mention Rudi?

https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

Poor Rudi, he had the most severe injuries of all and didn't even get a mention. This is so incredibly sad. His death upsets the most for all the obvious reasons.

 

[JudgeJudi]

H: Rudi would also shave in shower and so would dad

https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

I wish Galloway had asked him what sort of razor he, Rudi and his father used, but more importantly asked why a fog-free mirror wasn't found in the shower (if that was the case) as this would virtually be a necessity.

I find it hard to believe that all 3 of them shaved in the shower. It's far more common to shave either before showering, or after when the skin is soft and the pores are open.

 

[JudgeJudi]

https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc

Desai: why then did you sign statement? At the time I was happy with it, it made sense. I couldn't provide info on 2nd attacker

No-one would give a statement to police and say they were happy with it and that it made sense. You would say you were happy with it because that's what you saw and did. To say "it made sense" implies that it's a yarn that he made up that made sense to him.

 

[JudgeJudi]

He said his statement was incorrect when it stated he didn't fully close the toilet door.

He disagreed that he said he was scared to leave the bathroom.

Whether or not it was closed is immaterial. HvB is a big man, and strong. I've never seen a toilet in a home that didn't have a window. Unless he has the voice of a 5-year-old girl, all he had to do was yell at the top of his voice to raise an alarm that would a) wake the neighbours, or b) make the intruder/s flee.

Then he could lean against the toilet door to stop the intruder entering while he continued to yell loudly.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Thanks for the tweets. Even though I always watch it I always manage to miss certain things so I like reading the tweets too. After Botha redirects tomorrow, is it closing statements,/arguments that is left?

Closing arguments will be done later. They're usually lengthy documents and I would expect counsel would need a week to prepare. They may well need 2 days to present their arguments to the court.

 

[JudgeJudi]

G: Officers asked why you didn't follow attackers?
H: I was unsure, didn't know what other weapons they might have had.

[url]https://twitter.com/CapeTownEtc[/URL]

This vicious murderer entered the home unarmed and looked for a weapon in the pantry. That would be the last place in close proximity to a kitchen where I’d expect to find a serious weapon, but this guy struck gold and was lucky enough to discover an axe. Not content with that, he also thought it prudent to carry a knife, so he looked in the cutlery drawer. If I was intending to kill someone, I’d be looking for a large knife like a chef’s knife, carving knife or even a serrated bread knife. But no, HvB chose a small knife from the cutlery drawer. I guess a large knife would be a tad uncomfortable if you were going to conceal it in the back of your shorts while you wielded an axe. If that knife was the most lethal the killer could find, it didn’t leave much for the guy/s waiting downstairs.

We know the intruder only entered the home with the intention of murdering the entire family because nothing was stolen despite the fact that Teresa’s expensive-looking handbag containing a cash-filled wallet sat on the kitchen bench. I wonder how he missed seeing that when he removed the knife from the cutlery drawer. Not only that, but the handbag sat alongside a laptop that was plugged into the wall socket. (Depending on which article you read, the handbag and laptop may have been on the dining room table). Perhaps it was Rudi’s laptop because it wasn’t found in his bedroom and HvB said they both were on their laptops before going to sleep. Martin’s Toshiba laptop was on the desk in his study. An expensive looking watch remained untouched.

Another thing that’s rather strange about this fairytale is that the other intruder/s who were downstairs while the killer was on his rampage didn’t choose to steal anything either. All that risk and nothing to show for it.

I believe in karma.

 

[Interested Bystander]

Tracey Ann Stewarts write up of today in court:-

Henri van Breda Cross-examination Ends

The State concluded their cross-examination of triple murder accused-turned-defence-witness Henri van Breda today.
On the fourth day of being in the witness stand, the 23-year old again met Advocate Susan Galloway’s line of questioning around the sequence of certain events as laid out in his testimony. Galloway continued to highlight areas where details between the accused’s statement to the police and his plea explanation in court do not match.

“Not my words” and “Again, I disagree” have become two common phrases uttered by Henri since Galloway began with cross-examination last week. But today, he conceded that on inspection, the emergency numbers on the fridge were probably more useful than his snap-decision to try and Google emergency services………………….

http://www.capetownetc.com/news/van-breda-trial/henri-van-breda-cross-examination-ends/

 

[bleuboy]

Closing arguments will be done later. They're usually lengthy documents and I would expect counsel would need a week to prepare. They may well need 2 days to present their arguments to the court.

Thanks JJ yeah I know normally counsel will take a week to prepare for closing but with this trial I wouldn't be surprised if it takes 3 lol.. I feel like the trial has took years, not months. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Some good points made by Galloway -

Why did HvB tell emergency operator that 'MY family was attacked' instead of 'WE were attacked'?

The 5 calls to Bianka. HvB couldn't state why he called her other than she was his only friend, so basically for comfort but not to ring for help on his behalf?! Did he guess right she wouldn't answer because it was a school night? Was it part of his halfhearted 'attempt' to appear like he was helping his family? :yes:

HvB said he avoided pools of blood on the ground, carefully stepping around them, it was a logical explanation for his socks not being saturated with blood underneath. I think this is one of his biggest mistakes, he reveals his thought process at the time.
His family have been murdered, he's fought for his life and all he could think about was not incriminating himself; there'd be no blood soaked socks or close physical contact with his family members who lay dead or dying. This explains how HvB moved Rudi, dragging him by his underarms while his legs were wide apart avoiding the blood on the floor.

HvB said he was awoken by the sunlight and Sasha's barking at the phone ringing (around 7 am?), he previously said she was practically deaf and incapacitated because of medication for her illness, she didn't bark or climb the stairs hence no paw prints in the blood upstairs. This explains why she didn't bark at the intruders who were laughing and joking in Afrikaans but not about the phone!
I wish we had a plan of the house because imo, Galloway made a mistake with regards to Sasha, that she was locked in the garage, I think she was locked in the scullery with a good supply of meat. But Galloway said the expert on the scene detected an axe like mark in the doorway to garage? So, he did walk into the garage for a particular reason while handling the axe?

HvB said he didn't alert the neighbours because they'd be useless but why did he assume they didn't have medical training/background, it's been established he hardly knew them. Also, they're locals, they'd know every emergency number/estate security number etc and if there were a doctor/nurse living nearby!

Botha's objections whenever HvB was struggling to answer was so obviously a tactic to give him the answer! :facepalm: Pathetic!!