But on January 27 2015‚ just a few months after the family returned from living in Australia‚ the shocking news broke: Martin van Breda‚ his wife Teresa and their son Rudi had been hacked to death by an axe-wielding murderer at their luxury De Zalze golf estate home near Stellenbosch.
Today, more than two years later, the murder trial is finally set to start in the high court.
Following the brutal attack, only two members of this “ideal family” remained alive.
Henri, who had come out of it with nothing but a few scratches, was quickly labelled a troublesome boy by many who knew him, including a man who claimed to be his drug runner.
In cold contrast, his sister Marli, 16‚ lay fighting for her life after receiving severe blows to the head and jugular in the attack.
It took as long as 18 months. On June 13 last year‚ Henri handed himself over at Stellenbosch police station after police told his lawyer an arrest was imminent.
According to the indictment‚ “[Henri] tampered with the crime scene‚ inflicted injuries to his person‚ and supplied false information to mislead the police”.
Henri was granted R100 000 bail and, after various postponements, the pre-trial hearing was finally set for early February.
As the court case begins today, what happened on that fateful night will finally move from speculation to forensics and facts.
