The De Zalze Murders. Julian Jansen
would fly back to Australia in the second term, after first doing a diving course in Sodwana Bay on the KwaZulu-Natal coast.
On Saturday Martin treated his family to a long-promised shark-cage diving experience at Gansbaai, near Hermanus. On Sunday they made a fire with briquettes at home to enjoy a last family braai before Rudi’s departure. During the course of the day Narita asked her sister in the Boland in a WhatsApp message if she enjoyed having her children around her. Teresa replied: ‘Yep I doooooo.’ She sounded very happy.
Monday was a sweltering day. Even by bedtime the heat had not abated. Father and sons wore only boxer shorts. Mercifully, the air conditioning throughout the house kept the rooms cool. Everyone slept upstairs: Rudi and Henri shared a bedroom overlooking the street, and down the passage on the opposite side Marli and their parents slept in adjoining rooms.
In the dead of night a bedroom light went on in a neighbouring house. The children who lived there claimed to have heard raised voices coming from 12 Goske Street. Then all was quiet again.
The following morning, Narita WhatsApped a joke to Teresa. When her sister had still not responded by about half past ten, she became concerned and phoned their brother Francois. She could hear from his voice that something was drastically wrong, almost as if someone had died. He broke the shocking news that Martin, Teresa and Rudi had been slashed to death with an axe and that Marli’s life was hanging by a thread. Henri, at least, sustained only some scratches. Soon afterwards Narita heard and saw the flood of reports on the murders of her relatives. She was hysterical.
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A prayer service for Marli is held at her new school. Her best friend, Mia Boshoff from Johannesburg, posts a photo of the two of them on Facebook. Her friends all pray for her.
The Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Perth, too, holds a vigil in the school’s chapel. The principal, Beth Blackwood, says the thoughts and prayers of the school are with the Van Breda family. Marli was a ‘much valued member’ of their community for seven years. Her brothers’ former headmaster at Scotch College, Alec O’Connell, expresses his school’s sympathy and says Henri and Rudi were ‘active students’ in their boarding house and in the college. And that the Van Breda family was ‘a valued part’ of their group.
Rudi’s friends express their sadness and shock on social media. After hearing of his best friend’s death, musician Sam Fearon writes ‘Rudi’s Song’ as a tribute, and shares it on the internet. Sam’s mother, Annie Durrand, says from Kent in the United Kingdom that they came to know Rudi very well in the five years she and Sam lived in Australia; Rudi was ‘like a second son’ to her. He was a gentle person, polite, always smiling. She and Sam are devastated and very angry over his loss.
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In a bizarre incident on the night of the same day as the axe murders, a dear friend of Martin and Teresa took her own life. Early in the new year, the Van Bredas visited Marie Gous and her husband Flip at Bon Avontuur, the Gous couple’s game farm next to the Gouritz River Bridge outside Mossel Bay. The 72-year-old Marie suffered from cancer.
The appalling news about her friends’ death affected Marie very deeply, her family said. Late that night the couple was driving on the N2 in the direction of Albertinia when Marie shot herself in the seat next to Flip.
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The memorial service for Martin, Teresa and Rudi in the Moreleta Park Dutch Reformed Church in Pretoria is conducted by the Reverend Willem Badenhorst. The bodies were cremated so there are no coffins.
Since their horrendous deaths, the pastor says, everyone has been asking: ‘Why, Lord?’
‘Death tears a part out of one’s life. The death of Martin, Teresa and Rudi speaks to all of us, also to the nation. It points a finger and asks: “Are you ready for death?”’
He describes each of them in turn: ‘Martin, the gentle, generous family man; Teresa, the quiet rock in the Van Breda household; Rudi, the unique human being with abundant love that he shared unstintingly.’
Later in his prayer he thanks God that in the very last seconds He did not let go of Teresa’s hand, still held His arms around Rudi, and did not abandon Martin. And then implores: ‘Lord, henceforth, would You accompany Henri and Marli every step of the way?’
Henri is nowhere to be seen at the service. Many doubt afterwards that he was present. But his uncle André van Breda says later: ‘Of course Henri was at the memorial service.’
His nephew is traumatised, he says, and both sides of the family – his support structure, his legal team, everybody – support him. The young man is heartbroken; André has promised Henri that he would not abandon him.
He also mentions that Marli’s condition has improved from critical to stable. The doctors have phoned him to ask whether she could be moved from the intensive-care unit to a big room where she could receive physiotherapy. The nurses have already decorated the room with family photos, he adds, visibly moved. ‘Marli moves her eyes when one speaks to her. We are asking everyone to pray for her.’
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Once the funeral is over, the media focus starts to include the Van Bredas’ will. A family spokesman, Ben Rootman, confirms that their three children and the Rudell Holdings Trust are beneficiaries of the couple’s considerable wealth. He adds that the Australian assets have not yet been fully determined, but are also left to family and to the trust.
Martin’s brother Bailey and Teresa’s brother André have been added as trustees. Bailey is also one of the executors of the estate, which could reportedly amount to more than R200 million. Along with Bailey’s twin brother André and another trustee, Don Bosman, they have to protect and manage the interests of the only surviving beneficiaries, Henri and Marli.
Three months after the tragedy, a report claims that the life-insurance policies of the murdered Van Bredas could not yet be paid out, possibly because of uncertainty about who is entitled to the money. According to an ‘impeccable source’, ‘the family’ of the two young heirs approached the police for a letter confirming that no prima facie evidence existed that linked Henri or Marli to the murders. The police either could not or would not issue such a letter.
The request for the letter was reputedly made amid ‘impatience’ by a relative to wrap up financial affairs. According to a police source, the family member concerned was apparently very upset because the request to the police had been leaked.
A burning question starts emerging: Is there perhaps division between the Du Toits and the Van Bredas? A source close to the investigation tells the media that some of the relatives feel for unknown reasons that the inheritance should go only to Marli, while others believe both children are entitled to it. Marli’s enormous medical costs are at issue, as well as the costs of the legal team that has been appointed to protect Henri’s interests. Were Henri to become an accused, the expenses could be astronomical.
There is another nagging question: Could the ‘bloody hand’ benefit in any way from the estate? In terms of the ‘bloody hand’ principle, a murderer may not inherit from his or her victim, but there is uncertainty as far as the aspect of maintenance is concerned. If Henri were arrested, would all the trustees agree that his legal expenses be paid from the trust?
The police have not yet identified a suspect, and Lorinda van Niekerk, a member of Henri’s legal team, insists that Henri’s instructions to them are ‘privileged’. She does confirm that the police took possession of Henri’s passport ‘along with those of the other family members’. She is unaware that the family has requested the police to provide a letter for the life insurers.
Ben Rootman, in turn, says on behalf of the family that Henri is receiving counselling. He is coping under the circumstances, and the last thing on his mind is money.
Three months after the murders the family home of 364 m², an asset of Rudell Holdings Trust, is put on the market for R6,2 million, R1,6 million more than Martin paid for it the year before. The furniture would be sold separately. Compared to the family’s previous residences, this one is relatively modest, with the