South Africa - Martin, 55, Theresa, 54, Rudi Van Breda, 22, Murdered, 26 Jan 2015 #5

[Tortoise]

I would really like to know who will decide whether HvB will be granted leave to appeal. Is it Judge Desai, or a panel, or what? If it is Judge Desai, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he didn't allow it. Like the man said, it's inescapable that Henri murdered (most of) his family, and I don't think he should be allowed to squander any more of Marli's inheritance on an appeal that is doomed to fail.

Perhaps it will depend on the grounds of the appeal. I have a feeling based on his complaints during the trial that it might be a personal attack on Desai and framed in terms of Desai being unfair towards his witnesses and therefore having pre-judged his guilt, in which case I might expect Desai to grant the appeal.

 

[Tortoise]

Proceedings into future care arrangements for Marli as well as whether her current curator's appointment should be extended has been postponed in the Western Cape High Court. Curator advocate Buikman SC confirmed on Monday that the matter will be heard on June 11 to allow her to file her report.

Buikman had been appointed by the court three years ago following the death of Marli’s parents and brother Rudi.

In October 2016, Buikman's curatorship was extended despite Marli having turned 18.

She was authorised to continue to act on behalf of Marli and to assist her in legal proceedings as well as all "major decisions".

Marli van Breda's future care, curatorship matter postponed

Bumping this post. The hearing is tomorrow.

 

[Fluffykins]

Perhaps it will depend on the grounds of the appeal. I have a feeling based on his complaints during the trial that it might be a personal attack on Desai and framed in terms of Desai being unfair towards his witnesses and therefore having pre-judged his guilt, in which case I might expect Desai to grant the appeal.

Thanks Tortoise for letting me know it's Desai. Yes, I primarily remember the Olckers thing. That bratty sense of entitlement. Where is the green throwing up smiley when I need it.

 

[Tortoise]

We need an Afrikaans speaking member to translate this for us. I can never open the Netwerk24 articles.

"‘Henri confessed to me’ #VanBreda https://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Hof/henri-bieg-by-my-20180609 … via @Netwerk24

Julian Jansen on Twitter

 

[JudgeJudi]

I would really like to know who will decide whether HvB will be granted leave to appeal. Is it Judge Desai, or a panel, or what? If it is Judge Desai, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he didn't allow it. Like the man said, it's inescapable that Henri murdered (most of) his family, and I don't think he should be allowed to squander any more of Marli's inheritance on an appeal that is doomed to fail.

An application for leave to appeal can be made on any grounds where the defence alleges that the Judge made an error in law when applying the law to the facts of the case after evidence has been placed before the court by both the State and the defence.

If the Judge, applying these allegations to the facts and the law, finds that a different outcome can be reached by a different court, he has no option but to grant the leave to appeal.

An application for leave to appeal will not succeed if the Judge finds that no other court will come to a different ruling when applying the law to the evidence presented before court. If Desai refuses to grant leave, the Defence can then petition the Supreme Court of Appeal.

If the SCA grants leave, the Defence will have to have the entire record typed up (unless the court otherwise directs) and make a copy available for each Judge at the SCA. The bench can comprise either three or five judges but I suspect it will be 5. As this trial was extremely lengthy, it will cost a huge amount of money. The parties will then have to wait for a date on which the appeal can be heard and it will probably be a minimum of one year.

Once a date has been allocated, a date will be given to the parties on which they have to submit their heads of argument which is a summary of the grounds of appeal and where the court a quo (lower court) erred as well as a complete list of the case law relied upon in arguing that the SCA should come to a different finding.

The Court’s decision will be based on the record of the proceedings in the lower court and after consideration of the written and oral arguments presented. This will probably only take one day, or two at most. Don’t expect HvB to be present in court.

A written judgment is usually handed down shortly after the argument but I’ve seen it take a month.

 

[JudgeJudi]

We need an Afrikaans speaking member to translate this for us. I can never open the Netwerk24 articles.

"‘Henri confessed to me’ #VanBreda https://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Hof/henri-bieg-by-my-20180609 … via @Netwerk24

Julian Jansen on Twitter

I've asked for some help. Fingers crossed.

 

[JudgeJudi]

In October 2016, Buikman's curatorship was extended despite Marli having turned 18.

The Western Cape High Court is expected to hear Marli’s future care arrangements and whether the current curator's appointment should be extended.

She was authorised to continue to act on behalf of Marli and to assist her in legal proceedings as well as all "major decisions".

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/marli-van-bredas-future-care-curatorship-matter-to-be-heard-20180611

An application for the future care arrangements of Marli #VanBreda has been postponed in the Western Cape High Court to allow her current curator to finalise her report. The matter will determine whether curator Louise Buikman SC's curatorship should be extended.

The matter was heard in chambers by Judge Siraj Desai, who last week sentenced Marli's brother, Henri #VanBreda, to three life terms for murdering his parents and brother, one year for obstructing the court of justice and 15 years for his attempt to murder her.

Tammy Petersen (@TammyPetersen87) | Twitter

 

[Christelle]

We need an Afrikaans speaking member to translate this for us. I can never open the Netwerk24 articles.

"‘Henri confessed to me’ #VanBreda https://www.netwerk24.com/Nuus/Hof/henri-bieg-by-my-20180609 … via @Netwerk24

Julian Jansen on Twitter

I can translate it. Afrikaans is my home language. Only problem is you have to pay to read that, unless, you're signing up for the free 30 day thingy. Which i've already done ages ago. So, if someone can copy what's written there i will gladly translate.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Unfortunately the dreaded paywall got in the way again.

The only extra bit that I was able to translate from the article was the sub-heading:

“Henri van Breda exploded when friend Marli brought the claw to the ear”.

Make of that what you will.

 

[ApplesInMyBra]

I signed up for the free 30 day trial. Here is the translation. (For some reason I cannot copy and paste the Afrikaans text from the article, but I will make screenshots and paste them.)

Apparently, Henri confessed to a friend
Henri van Breda, who Thursday maintained that he did NOT wipe out his entire family with an axe, apparently confessed to a friend.

According to sources in the police and National Prosecution Authority (NPA), Rapport has gathered that Stefan van der Westhuizen (23), a former friend of Henri, approached authorities with this information.

With Henri's guilty verdict last week, court goers looked up with surprise when van der Westhuizen started audibly sobbing.

"Oh, my friend...." he sighed and wiped tears from his eyes while police officers led a handcuffed Henri out of court.

Henri wants to appeal against the finding that he killed his father, Martin, mother, Teresa, and brother, Rudi, and attempted to kill his sister, Marli.

Van der Westhuizen is currently being treated for depression in a Cape clinic.

He told Rapport that he was very close to Henri and Marli.

He met the van Bredas in 2015, and they often hung out together. They often went to eat sushi, chatted and smoked together.

During his trial, Henri was charged with possession of marijuana. He was acquitted when his girlfriend Danielle Janse van Rensburg admitted that it was her marijuana.

Van der Westhuizen said that the only danger lights that initially flickered for him was Henri's taste in music. "I absolutely hated the rock music that Henri played in his car, but I didn't want to tell him. It would have broken his heart", he said embarrassed.

But the relationship soured in the fall of 2016.

Henri invited him one evening to go and see the horror movie Hardcore Henry, In Claremont, he told us. The character Henry gets raised from the dead and is part man and part robot. His memory is wiped out and he has to save his wife from a psychopath who wants to take over the world.

Van der Westhuizen was sceptic, because the movie started at 11:00pm. He remember especially how gruesome the movie was, and how ironic the title was.

On another event, they were on their way to the movies in the Cavendish shopping centre in Claremont.

'Henri was unusually quiet, something was off; I don't know if he was ill."

" I could tell something was bothering, I just had to know precisely what."

Then they drove. "I up", Henri suddenly said.

Van der Westhuizen was speechless and confused by this sudden remark.

"I will never forget the emotion in Henri's eyes, the tears....", he said. The rest of the ride was in silence.

"I felt as if my heart was on fire, as if I could grab Henri by the throat. Just the thought that I might be sitting next to a murderer!"

The mirror finally broke between them when Van der Westhuizen shortly after told him that he thought Marli was starting to believe that is was her brother that attacked them.

"He became red in the face", said Van der Westhuizen.

In a fit of rage, Henri grabbed him by the throat, he said. After this incident, the two saw each other less.

Van der Westhuizen came to support Henri once or twice in court. He smiles embarrassed and said: "Henri wasn't that nice to me anymore."

Adv Louise Buikman, Marli's trustee, is going to present a report about the 19-year-old girl tomorrow in the high court.

She also has to present reasons for why her trusteeship should be extended or have to be ended.

The State argued for aggravation of Henri's sentence that Marli has to live with the knowledge that her brother had attacked their family.

 

[Fluffykins]

An application for leave to appeal can be made on any grounds where the defence alleges that the Judge made an error in law when applying the law to the facts of the case after evidence has been placed before the court by both the State and the defence.

If the Judge, applying these allegations to the facts and the law, finds that a different outcome can be reached by a different court, he has no option but to grant the leave to appeal.

An application for leave to appeal will not succeed if the Judge finds that no other court will come to a different ruling when applying the law to the evidence presented before court. If Desai refuses to grant leave, the Defence can then petition the Supreme Court of Appeal.

If the SCA grants leave, the Defence will have to have the entire record typed up (unless the court otherwise directs) and make a copy available for each Judge at the SCA. The bench can comprise either three or five judges but I suspect it will be 5. As this trial was extremely lengthy, it will cost a huge amount of money. The parties will then have to wait for a date on which the appeal can be heard and it will probably be a minimum of one year.

Once a date has been allocated, a date will be given to the parties on which they have to submit their heads of argument which is a summary of the grounds of appeal and where the court a quo (lower court) erred as well as a complete list of the case law relied upon in arguing that the SCA should come to a different finding.

The Court’s decision will be based on the record of the proceedings in the lower court and after consideration of the written and oral arguments presented. This will probably only take one day, or two at most. Don’t expect HvB to be present in court.

A written judgment is usually handed down shortly after the argument but I’ve seen it take a month.

Thanks so much for all that info, JJ; it's good to know the ways in which it could play out.

Just reading between the lines, it sounds like you expect Judge Desai will probably find that no other court would come to a different ruling when applying the law to the evidence that was presented - he did after all say the result was "inescapable."

If it does end up before the Supreme Court of Appeal, do you think there's any chance of HvB being allowed out pending the appeal?

 

[ApplesInMyBra]

Here are the screenshots of the article.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Apples, you're an absolute star. Thank you so much for the translation. It's fantastic.

"Marli van Breda's ex-boyfriend Stefan van der Westhuizen was one of three people who wept in court on Monday when Henri van Breda was convicted of the murder of his parents and brother and attempted murder of Marli‚ his sister.

"(Henri) was a good friend of mine for a year - more than a year - and he was actually my best friend. It was very emotional for me to see him in that state and I felt very sorry for him‚" he said outside the Cape Town High Court‚ his eyes still red from crying.

This link has a 54 sec video of Stefan speaking after the conviction:

Former best friend weeps as Henri van Breda is found guilty

 

[JudgeJudi]

Thanks so much for all that info, JJ; it's good to know the ways in which it could play out.

Just reading between the lines, it sounds like you expect Judge Desai will probably find that no other court would come to a different ruling when applying the law to the evidence that was presented - he did after all say the result was "inescapable."

If it does end up before the Supreme Court of Appeal, do you think there's any chance of HvB being allowed out pending the appeal?

If Desai rules against leave to appeal, Botha will definitely apply to the SCA.

There's no way HvB will be released from prison pending the appeal.

 

[Christelle]

I signed up for the free 30 day trial. Here is the translation. (For some reason I cannot copy and paste the Afrikaans text from the article, but I will make screenshots and paste them.)

Apparently, Henri confessed to a friend
Henri van Breda, who Thursday maintained that he did NOT wipe out his entire family with an axe, apparently confessed to a friend.

According to sources in the police and National Prosecution Authority (NPA), Rapport has gathered that Stefan van der Westhuizen (23), a former friend of Henri, approached authorities with this information.

With Henri's guilty verdict last week, court goers looked up with surprise when van der Westhuizen started audibly sobbing.

"Oh, my friend...." he sighed and wiped tears from his eyes while police officers led a handcuffed Henri out of court.

Henri wants to appeal against the finding that he killed his father, Martin, mother, Teresa, and brother, Rudi, and attempted to kill his sister, Marli.

Van der Westhuizen is currently being treated for depression in a Cape clinic.

He told Rapport that he was very close to Henri and Marli.

He met the van Bredas in 2015, and they often hung out together. They often went to eat sushi, chatted and smoked together.

During his trial, Henri was charged with possession of marijuana. He was acquitted when his girlfriend Danielle Janse van Rensburg admitted that it was her marijuana.

Van der Westhuizen said that the only danger lights that initially flickered for him was Henri's taste in music. "I absolutely hated the rock music that Henri played in his car, but I didn't want to tell him. It would have broken his heart", he said embarrassed.

But the relationship soured in the fall of 2016.

Henri invited him one evening to go and see the horror movie Hardcore Henry, In Claremont, he told us. The character Henry gets raised from the dead and is part man and part robot. His memory is wiped out and he has to save his wife from a psychopath who wants to take over the world.

Van der Westhuizen was sceptic, because the movie started at 11:00pm. He remember especially how gruesome the movie was, and how ironic the title was.

On another event, they were on their way to the movies in the Cavendish shopping centre in Claremont.

'Henri was unusually quiet, something was off; I don't know if he was ill."

" I could tell something was bothering, I just had to know precisely what."

Then they drove. "I up", Henri suddenly said.

Van der Westhuizen was speechless and confused by this sudden remark.

"I will never forget the emotion in Henri's eyes, the tears....", he said. The rest of the ride was in silence.

"I felt as if my heart was on fire, as if I could grab Henri by the throat. Just the thought that I might be sitting next to a murderer!"

The mirror finally broke between them when Van der Westhuizen shortly after told him that he thought Marli was starting to believe that is was her brother that attacked them.

"He became red in the face", said Van der Westhuizen.

In a fit of rage, Henri grabbed him by the throat, he said. After this incident, the two saw each other less.

Van der Westhuizen came to support Henri once or twice in court. He smiles embarrassed and said: "Henri wasn't that nice to me anymore."

Adv Louise Buikman, Marli's trustee, is going to present a report about the 19-year-old girl tomorrow in the high court.

She also has to present reasons for why her trusteeship should be extended or have to be ended.

The State argued for aggravation of Henri's sentence that Marli has to live with the knowledge that her brother had attacked their family.

This truly reads like something out of a gossip magazine. Bunch of rubbish. Yeah, the dude did what he did. Taste in music and movies doesn't make one a murderer like the "friend" insinuates. Some confession that was. He frankly admitted to nothing. "I ****** up" doesn't mean much, if anything.

 

[Fluffykins]

If Desai rules against leave to appeal, Botha will definitely apply to the SCA.

There's no way HvB will be released from prison pending the appeal.

Thanks, JJ! Well that's a relief he won't get let out. I'm thinking of Pistorius, of course - thank heaven Desai is no Masipa. And yes, Botha will stop at nothing, eh. SMH.

 

[Fluffykins]

This truly reads like something out of a gossip magazine. Bunch of rubbish. Yeah, the dude did what he did. Taste in music and movies doesn't make one a murderer like the "friend" insinuates. Some confession that was. He frankly admitted to nothing. "I up" doesn't mean much, if anything.

Yeah, some "confession." I guess maybe for a moment we forgot the sensational depths to which modern journalism has sunk!

 

[JudgeJudi]

Thanks so much for all that info, JJ; it's good to know the ways in which it could play out.

The reason I posted that is because in all probability the only members here who would be familiar with the process are those of us who followed the OP trial. I also thought you may be surprised how long this will take to play out.

In OP's case he went one step further. After the SCA convicted him of murder, he then applied for leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court but leave was denied.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Thanks, JJ! Well that's a relief he won't get let out. I'm thinking of Pistorius, of course - thank heaven Desai is no Masipa. And yes, Botha will stop at nothing, eh. SMH.

But that was different. He'd already served some time and at that stage he'd only been convicted of culpable homicide (manslaughter). Bit of a difference compared to HvB's brutal murders.

 

[ApplesInMyBra]

This truly reads like something out of a gossip magazine. Bunch of rubbish. Yeah, the dude did what he did. Taste in music and movies doesn't make one a murderer like the "friend" insinuates. Some confession that was. He frankly admitted to nothing. "I ****** up" doesn't mean much, if anything.

<modsnip: profanity>

Totally agree that it sounds like a gossip magazine. Huisgenoot, one of the magazines owned by News24 is exactly that - it is worse than People magazine. This definitely sounds like an article that belongs in that junk magazine.