When you’re defending someone like Henri van Breda, and you’re facing an overwhelming amount of evidence that seems to point to his guilt, your job is to pick apart any and every angle to sow doubt.

I’m sure the defence was pretty happy to bring up the WhatsApp message that Marli van Breda’s boyfriend, James Reade-Jahn, sent in the weeks before the axe attack.

TimesLive reports:

An impassioned WhatsApp message from Marli van Breda’s boyfriend…shortly before the murders has cast the family in a new light.

Revealed in court on Thursday‚ the message said: “I know I told you everything I always feel or am doing‚ and right now‚ I feel like I want to murder the people that are around you at the moment and I am inches away from losing it with them and breaking down completely but I am being strong to help you …”

That image above from THIS tweet.

Oh dear, that really doesn’t look great with the benefit of hindsight.

The message was in response to a van Breda family argument that had upset Marli:

…he said he was trying to comfort Marli after an ugly family fight that had left Marli and her mother Teresa “very upset”.

The fight‚ according to Reade-Jahn [below]‚ was to do with Marli having gained weight.

When defence counsel Matthys Combrink put it to him that this was in the realm of a “normal family disagreement”‚ he said he felt something worse had happened in the fight based on how upset Teresa was.

Reade-Jahn also said in court that father Martin and Teresa had a “good relationship” but that Martin had been a controlling husband and father.

“He wanted the best for his kids — he wanted them to be diligent and he wanted to keep the family together‚” he said‚ adding that arguments had arisen over Martin’s control of the family‚ and that “all agreed Martin had been too rough on Marli” during the discussion about her weight.

Court has now adjourned until Monday.

[source:timeslive]