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

[Estelle]

I thought that Doctor seemed to be very non-committal.

 

[JudgeJudi]

And this is where Galloway is NOT doing her job. She should be re-examining her witnesses and aggressively covering all the "possible" but not "probable" matters. She's letting Botha get away with murder, to coin a phrase. He's doing a brilliant job and she's been utterly hopeless so far.

 

[Interested Bystander]

Thank you to all involved with the updates. Great job.

 

[Tortoise]

Doctor Albertse's report is in this link

http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/vanbredatrial-not-all-wounds-cut-deep-9191149

eta copied into the next posts

 

[Tortoise]

 

[Tortoise]

 

[Tortoise]

I wonder if his clothing was ripped also from the stabs.

 

[Tortoise]

Why would there be 4 parallel cuts on his arm, if he was fighting an attacker? That would take some time without him moving his arm.

 

[L2L]

And this is where Galloway is NOT doing her job. She should be re-examining her witnesses and aggressively covering all the "possible" but not "probable" matters. She's letting Botha get away with murder, to coin a phrase. He's doing a brilliant job and she's been utterly hopeless so far.

Sadly, have to agree, JJ! I have zero confidence in Galloway & I fear Botha will win this case; it's like she's allowing this to happen.. What a terrifying thought that this vile killer walks free! When I picture him swinging that axe at his mother especially......my mind shuts down!

 

[Interested Bystander]

I wonder if his clothing was ripped also from the stabs.

I think he was only wearing sleep shorts and all the injuries were either above the waist or below shorts level unless I missed something somewhere.

 

[L2L]

Don't know where to post this... but for those who followed the OP trial: appeal against sentence probably August or September, 2017.

http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/5e994f...carundefinedPistorius’sundefinedcase-20171205

 

[Interested Bystander]

What happened between midnight when a neighbour heard shouting and angry voices coming from the VB residence stop and 3am when HVB says the attacks occurred? HvB says Rudi fell asleep when they went to bed which one assumes must have been fairly soon after the argument stopped. What was HVB doing whilst awake for some three hours between going to bed and the 3 am attack when he was still awake and according to him sitting on the toilet. Was he really playing computer games or was he planning the execution of his family? Why did he call for his father to help Rudi when he says that later he wrestled and disarmed the attacker? Surely if he was prepared to face the attacker he would have done so when he was close at hand.

Another point I find odd is that the house was sold when H was under suspicion of murder. If there were two of them likely to inherit and one had loss of memory and the other was under suspicion who gave permission for the house to be sold and what happened to the money from the sale? I am sure in the UK it would not have been allowed.

 

[PrimeSuspect]

What happened between midnight when a neighbour heard shouting and angry voices coming from the VB residence stop and 3am when HVB says the attacks occurred? HvB says Rudi fell asleep when they went to bed which one assumes must have been fairly soon after the argument stopped. What was HVB doing whilst awake for some three hours between going to bed and the 3 am attack when he was still awake and according to him sitting on the toilet. Was he really playing computer games or was he planning the execution of his family? Why did he call for his father to help Rudi when he says that later he wrestled and disarmed the attacker? Surely if he was prepared to face the attacker he would have done so when he was close at hand.

Another point I find odd is that the house was sold when H was under suspicion of murder. If there were two of them likely to inherit and one had loss of memory and the other was under suspicion who gave permission for the house to be sold and what happened to the money from the sale? I am sure in the UK it would not have been allowed.

I agree, the way this whole case is handled is odd, like it's some annoying, messy formality that needs attending to and then swept away forever. The sale of the property is very strange, where is that money sitting?

A few new questions that hopefully will be answered - was HvB wearing runners at the time of attack? Is it proven without a doubt HvB was not under the influence of a drug, when was the test carried out? Did HvB sit on the toilet in the dark? The clean socks? What height and build was the attacker?

Other random thoughts - Rudi was by far the fittest and strongest imo, had to be taken down first. The attacker would know this how? Why would the attackers leave HvB very much alive? HvB was worried Marli would survive and waited for her to die, if he killed her hours later forensics would pick this up? I believe the police think he's guilty but the state could fail for a number of reasons, one being this is a process to eliminate HvB permanently as a suspect.

I've got an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach that the trial is a farce. Marli has retrograde amnesia and there's a chance she could recover her memory. If/When Marli regains her memory, HvB standing trial for the murder of his family and found innocent protects him from being retried under the double jeopardy law. This is his safety net advised by his lawyers, imo.
Botha will be able to brow beat every witness into agreeing with his suggestions that whatever helps his client is probable, and what doesn't, is impossible. These murders will be left unsolved.

 

[JudgeJudi]

I wonder if his clothing was ripped also from the stabs.

He was only wearing sleep shorts. Whether he was wearing socks is debateable. How he managed to avoid all the splatter that must have been on the floor is amazing.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Day 14

Today's link:

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/live-van-breda-axe-murder-trial-day-14-20170518

 

[JudgeJudi]

Update on progress of the livestreaming of the trial:

Murder-accused Henri van Breda is expected to challenge a ruling allowing Media24 permission to livestream his trial in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein.

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/Ne...ay-14-20170518

 

[Tortoise]

I think I was confused about where the abdomen stab wounds were, thinking they must have been below the waistband of his shorts, because the report mentions 'toward the pubis symphysis', but I see now it probably means higher up but in that general direction. Mind you waistbands are generally worn far below the waist these days.

It also says the widest part of either of the stab wounds was 1.7cm (17mm), so looking at the knife I'm thinking it can't have gone deeper than where the blade is 1.7cm wide. My estimate is that this would not be 50mm along the blade, or whatever the defence said was their doctor's estimate of the wound depth. To go that deep the wound would have been wider. There aren't any measurements with the knife photo but it looks like a medium-large kitchen knife if that is an A4 envelope it's on.

It's amazing that the attacker managed to hold an axe and a knife.

 

[JudgeJudi]

RSBM

Another point I find odd is that the house was sold when H was under suspicion of murder. If there were two of them likely to inherit and one had loss of memory and the other was under suspicion who gave permission for the house to be sold and what happened to the money from the sale? I am sure in the UK it would not have been allowed.

As Martin was a very wealthy man, he no doubt had a Will prepared years ago. Marli was still a minor at the time of the attack and someone would have been named in the Will to act as her guardian. Once HvB had been charged with the murders, the estate would have been frozen, at least so far as he is concerned. If he's convicted of the murders, he'll lose all his entitlement to share in the estate.

 

[Tortoise]

I can't believe the doctor's report says no photos of the back injuries. I hope another expert was consulted, as she asked, because I'll bet the defence got a highly paid one. They're going for concussion with the 4 hour faint, because he spelt a word wrong on his google search, his pupils were small, and he apparently wet himself (after having been to the loo).

This feels to me like going through the motions of having a trial. Depressing.

 

[JudgeJudi]

ETA to above post. The executor/trustee will take care of the administration of Martin's estate