NATIONAL NEWS - Defence advocate Piet Botha told the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday that the State failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt in the trial of triple murder accused Henri Van Breda.

He said the State’s case was based on speculation, “inferences should be drawn from facts”, and that evidence presented by the State was of “poor quality”.

Twenty-three-year-old Van Breda has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, one of attempted murder and one of obstructing the ends of justice.

It is the State’s case that he attacked his family with an axe, and that his sister Marli, who was 16 at the time, survived the attack – not as a result of a lesser attack, but rather because of a “miracle”.

The attack in the family home in the De Zalze, Stellenbosch security estate in 2015 shocked the country, and the sensational trial has dominated headlines for more than 60 days.

The defence has its final stab at convincing the court of Van Breda’s version, that a laughing, axe-wielding intruder was behind the attack, and that the “State did not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt”.

Botha said “what the court needs to decide is the identity of the attackers”.

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