After three long years of legal battles, Henri van Breda was found guilty of axing his parents and his brother to death at their De Zalze Golf Estate home in Stellenbosch.

Judge Siraj Desai handed down his judgement in the Western Cape High Court on Monday, convicting van Breda – who had pleaded not guilty – of three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and one count of defeating the ends of justice, reports News24.

Van Breda had claimed that intruders had broke into their home in 2015 and carried out the attacks. His sister Marli survived the attack, but sustained serious brain injuries, and suffered from retrograde amnesia.

Here’s the exact moment when Desai found Van Breda guilty (around the 6:40 mark):

Sheesh, not much of a reaction there. I’d be in bits, but I suppose he must have known it was coming.

These are some of the quotes from Desai’s judgement that sealed the guilty party’s fate:

An axe would be a peculiar choice of weapon for a burglar or thief to take along to the intended crime scene.

If the intention of the intruder(s) was to kill the occupants of the house, it would be senseless not to bring a weapon along. The alleged intruder clearly planned the commission of the crimes by wearing gloves, dark clothes and a balaclava mask. Laughing whilst attacking family members certainly appears to be strange behaviour for a random assailant. It can possibly be expected from a perpetrator with a personal issue.

Another angle of the moment Henri’s goose was cooked:

And back to Desai’s ruling:

It is inconceivable that an unknown perpetrator would gain entry to the estate and house with great planning and effort, seriously injure the entire family in that manner for no apparent reason (except for the accused) and flee again without taking obvious valuable items from the house.

Whether an intruder entered the house armed with an axe or the perpetrator armed himself with an axe from the pantry inside the house, the attack on the presumably sleeping family members on the first floor of the house and in the early hours of the morning, had to be planned. The weapon had to be taken to the first floor; it would not have been readily at hand at the time of the attack.

The cut marks on [Van Breda’s] chest were superficial and non-fatal. Incisions had an equal depth, were parallel and avoided sensitive areas like nipples. The chest injuries were in a reachable area for self-infliction.

The bottom line is that it is unlikely that the intruder would have left finger prints with gloved hands. Only the accused’s thumb print was on the knife and [his brother] Rudi’s DNA.

Quite damning stuff.

Bottom line is, the murder trial is reaching its end, the perpetrator has been found guilty, and that friends and family of the slain Van Bredas can hopefully find some closure once this ordeal is over.

Sentencing proceedings are set to begin on June 5.

Seems like justice is served … for now.

[sources:news24&timeslive]