South Africa - Martin, 55, Theresa, 54, Rudi van Breda, 22, murdered, 26 Jan 2015 #1

[Hag]

Who is Sasha?

Sasha is the dog! 😎

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Whose skull? (your link doesn't work)

Marli's skull, most of her hair was shaved off.

 

[Estelle]

[video=youtube;Wm_kYU3S9os]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm_kYU3S9os[/video]

 

[JudgeJudi]

Whose skull? (your link doesn't work)

That’s strange Apples – it wouldn’t open for me either. The link below opened for me jut now but I don’t know if it’s different. I haven’t been able to edit posts, amongst other things, for quite a while now. If the following link doesn’t open for you, it was on the news24 link that I used yesterday and was the post immediately below “See you at 10am tomorrow!”

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-van-breda-triple-axe-murder-trial-day-11-20170515

 

[Tortoise]

Bench for #VanBreda SCA broadcast appeal on Thursday : Judges Ponnan, Mbha, Leach, Zondi & Van der Merwe

https://twitter.com/Dariomilo

 

[JudgeJudi]

Day 12

The link for today's live news feed:

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-van-breda-murder-trial-day-12-20170516

 

[JudgeJudi]

Thank you Tortoise

Bench for #VanBreda SCA broadcast appeal on Thursday : Judges Ponnan, Mbha, Leach, Zondi & Van der Merwe

https://twitter.com/Dariomilo

What wonderful news that Leach, J. is on the bench.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Tammy Petersen ‎@TammyPetersen87

Day 12 of Henri #VanBreda trial to start shortly in Western Cape High Court. Forensic analyst Henry Stewart to continue testifying.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-van-breda-murder-trial-day-12-20170516

He’s still under cross-examination by Botha.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Adv Pieter Botha continues his cross examination of Lt Col Henry Stewart (spelling of his name was incorrect yesterday - apologies).

Hair comparison checklist being examined. Hair colour is subjective. Botha asks if any reference samples had any blood on it. Stewart says none of it had blood on it.

Estimates length and also measures it. Variable hair means there is not a constant thickness.

Microscopic examinations conducted on the hair. Botha said Henri's hair (D21) is light hair, and hair on Marli's pants and t-shirt also characterised as light.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[L2L]

Thank you Tortoise

Bench for #VanBreda SCA broadcast appeal on Thursday : Judges Ponnan, Mbha, Leach, Zondi & Van der Merwe

https://twitter.com/Dariomilo

What wonderful news that Leach, J. is on the bench.

Yes, JJ! Good news Indeed! Time to say huge thanks to you & others for all the updates as they happen in court.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Rudi's hair was characterised as black, and Botha says his hair colour was the darkest colour in the family.

Botha says hair is described as light, light to meduim, medium to dark and dark to opaque. Martin's hair was macroscopically determined to black, but microscopically dark to opaque.

Botha says Stewart didn't check pigment density.

The entire shaft of hair indicated the same pigmentation.

If he had competed all the categories to do a comparison, he would have been busy for a year, Stewart says.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[JudgeJudi]

In hair comparisons it is not prescribed how many points of similarities are needed, he explains.

Judge Desai asks how objectively confirm the accuracy of the hair findings. Stewart says his findings are peer reviewed.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[JudgeJudi]

Botha says there are 24 categories, and Stewart worked with 11.

When you work with a spec as vague as a comparison, would it not be better to use more of the categories than less, as it gives more ticks on your list, Botha asks.

He lists all the categories Stewart didn't check.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Anthony Molyneaux‏ @AJGMolyneaux 28m28 minutes ago @TimesLIVE

And with Judge Desai asking press not to bring their coffee into courtroom, we're off. Colonel Stewart in stand. Botha questioning.
NOTE: the press do not have exhibits or reports in front of us. This has made it difficult to tweet hair testimony.
Botha: Rudi had the darkest hair colour of the entire family. Stewart agrees.
Judge asks Stewart how many points of identification did he use? Stewart says only under a comparison microscope.
Judge says this hair analysis is very soft science as it's subjective, and asks Stewart if he thinks so too.
Stewart agrees!!! Judge says hair analysis is uncertain which makes it unscientific.
colonel now states it is not uncertain (this witness has been back and forth in this manner throughout)
Judge says in fingerprint analysis there is a sense of points but in hair analysis there doesn't seem to be the same proof.
Colonel now states the principle of fingerprinting is the same as hair analysis. Judge not buying it.

Judge hands over to Botha. It seems Judge is not satisfied with hair specialist's answers.

Botha is going through categories on report which Colonel did not test. (Col. completed 11 out of 24)

 

[JudgeJudi]

How many similarities to determine resemblance, Botha asks. Stewart says internationally there is no specific amount.

Botha says fingerprint expert can give a number of points needed for a standard conclusion.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Anthony Molyneaux‏ @AJGMolyneaux 2m2 minutes ago @TimesLIVE

B: how many similarities do you require to say 2 hairs resemble each other? Colonel says 6 categories needed to match & he did this.
Botha now says: well let us see if you did test these 6 categories. There are no photographs of hair study for court to look at.
Botha going through 6 points of similarity between 2 hair samples.

Judge asks if you only take these 6 categories then the hair could technically include 100 thousand people. Colonel agrees again.

Judge asks how long defence will continue with this witness. Not long my lord says Botha.

Colonel is proving to be a weak witness for state.Answers are vague and not clear to the point.Judge says it's purely subjective...not a strong science. Colonel agrees that it is subjective. Wow.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

Botha has literally tied Stewart in knots and the judge isn't happy with his responses. This is good for HvB.
Judge may end up disregarding all the work done by Stewart, it's wasting time Botha going on with it, imo.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Stewart says hair comparison is under microscope. He would use characteristics he looked at on macroscopical side. That means six, including root, cuticle, tip, pigmentation distribution.

How many did you use, Botha asks. Stewart says he used all six.

[zzzzzzzzzzzz Oh, sorry, was nodding off with all this riveting testimony]

Refers to Rudi's hair. Macroscopic was found to be black. On Rudi's bed, where Martin was found, he also found black hairs. All of the categories corresponded with Rudi's hair. Botha points out that despite a positive comparison to hair on the bed and Rudi's, Stewart said he couldn't positively state that it had been Rudi's hair. Stewart says that the microscope showed enough differences to not confirm this.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[JudgeJudi]

Botha was referring to Rudi's hair.

With regard to Henri's sample, Stewart found it showed a resemblance to the hair found on Marli's T-shirt. Botha said if he had seen Henri's hair he would have immediately been able to cancel Henri out, due to the length.

Hair on t-shirt didn't have a root. Stewart used five points to come to his conclusion as the root wasn't part of the hair.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

 

[L2L]

Stewart says hair comparison is under microscope. He would use characteristics he looked at on macroscopical side. That means six, including root, cuticle, tip, pigmentation distribution.

How many did you use, Botha asks. Stewart says he used all six.

[zzzzzzzzzzzz Oh, sorry, was nodding off with all this riveting testimony]

Refers to Rudi's hair. Macroscopic was found to be black. On Rudi's bed, where Martin was found, he also found black hairs. All of the categories corresponded with Rudi's hair. Botha points out that despite a positive comparison to hair on the bed and Rudi's, Stewart said he couldn't positively state that it had been Rudi's hair. Stewart says that the microscope showed enough differences to not confirm this.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-12-20170516

zzzzzzzz here too! I have to get up and walk around the room to stay awake right now!