The De Zalze Murders. Julian Jansen
there is immediately interest, and many enquiries are made about the house with its four bedrooms, four bathrooms, two living areas, a pool and two garages. But it would take six unsuccessful offers and a period of 20 months before it is finally sold – at the asking price of R6,2 million.
No. 12 Goske Street, where two parents and their eldest child met their deaths in one of the most unspeakable ways imaginable.
2 A pseudonym.
3
Unparalleled head trauma
THE BOLAND’S SUPER-RICH and its dirt poor, its notables and nonentities, have all lain before her on the stainless-steel gurneys with their black rubber wheels. On her tables, all are equal. The common denominator? Death.
The head injuries of Martin, Teresa and Rudi van Breda are among the most horrific state pathologist Dr Daphne Anthony has ever seen. A police source would later observe that the injuries looked as if they were caused by an action similar to woodcutting: ‘you grip the axe with both hands and hack with force’.
The wounds are part of this family’s terrible tale, and her findings would help us to tell it.
Dr Anthony, who hails from Paarl, is a senior forensic specialist at the Western Cape’s Forensic Pathology Services in Du Toit Street, Stellenbosch. She is registered with the Health Professions Council as a medical doctor and forensic pathologist. The highly experienced pathologist is said to have lost count of the number of postmortem examinations she has performed.
To her, a body is like a crime scene. She has to determine as methodically and accurately as possible what caused the death of the person lying before her, and what damage the body has sustained. Her report must contain the most minute particulars if it is to be useful in court. During cross-examination the facts have to come alive.
Postmortem examinations consume hours of Dr Anthony’s time. She usually starts early. Within minutes, she is in her element. It is not only her bread-and-butter job but also her passion, colleagues say.
Today she wants to conduct the postmortems of the axe victims first of all. Her greyish hair is tucked away neatly under a headscarf. The three bodies were brought in 48 hours earlier.
First in line is a man with grey hair along his temples. His skin is waxy in the harsh light of her lamp, his face, hair and body bloodstained. The forensic officer John Gouws identifies the corpse of the ‘white adult male’ as that of Martin Christo van Breda, aged approximately 55 years, ‘certified dead on 27 January 2015 at 08:44’.
‘Length: 1,75 m, weight: ±120 kg, physique: overweight,’ Dr Anthony writes.
Detective Constable Zuko Matho looks on, his face drawn and pale. He has rubbed Vicks in his nostrils; it offers some protection against the stench of death. The investigating officer knows what awaits him.
The pathologist wields her scalpel with a well-trained and experienced hand. Warrant Officer André Hitchcock of the police’s Criminal Record Centre in Worcester takes photos. He and Dr Anthony work in tandem: at times, she stands aside so that the sergeant can get close-up shots. A photographer from the Victim Identification Centre is also at work.
In between the camera flashes she records her observations in a notebook. ‘External sharp and blunt trauma involving the head and central upper back,’ she notes. No evidence suggestive of defensive wounds. Mostly skull fractures, brain injuries. Blood in the nostrils and mouth, a moderate amount in the pharynx, trachea and bronchi, and about 100 millilitres in the stomach. No evidence of tablets, tablet pieces or residue in the stomach.
Her conclusion about the cause of death is recorded succinctly: ‘Head injury and consequences thereof – unnatural cause.’ On printed body sketches she indicates the injuries from the top of his head to the back, and numbers them from one to four. They are carefully measured and recorded: a 10 x 7,5 centimetre laceration on the right side of the back of the scalp; another laceration, measuring 9 x 1,5 centimetre, involving the left and back of the scalp; a half-moon-shaped, penetrating incised wound of 8 x 2 centimetre on the upper right area of the scalp; and a 10 x 0,5 centimetre incised wound on the upper back at the junction of the neck.
She also observes a massive skull fracture extending from the front to the back, and linear fractures across the floor of the cranial cavity at the back.
Dr Anthony hands the forensic officer a blood specimen that will be tested for signs of alcohol and other toxic substances. A second specimen is handed to Constable Matho. It will be analysed to determine Martin Christo van Breda’s DNA, which can then be compared to the DNA of the blood at the crime scene as well as with that of the other victims and survivors.
She takes fingernail scrapings; if the victim resisted his attacker, the material left under the fingernails may contain DNA evidence.
The investigating officer is also in attendance as the body of the slim-faced blonde woman is examined. Teresa Jacoba van Breda is aged approximately 56 years, ‘certified dead on 27 January 2015 at 08:44’.
She is not very tall – 1,65 metres in length – and weighs ‘±75 kg’. Her face, hair and body are bloodstained.
She has two large lacerations to the back of her head on the right, measuring 11 x 1,5 centimetre and 11 x 2 centimetre respectively. The pathologist notes several loose skull-bone fragments, as well as underlying damaged brain tissue. At the top of the scalp, to the back on the right, there is a 6,5 x 1,4 centimetre penetrating incised wound.
There are small contusions on the right area of the lower back, abrasions on the bridge of the nose, and blood in the mouth and nostrils. The lungs have collapsed.
A 2-centimetre incised wound on her right thumb suggests she may have tried to defend herself or to ward off the sharp instrument with which she was attacked.
Two blood specimens and fingernail scrapings are taken.
Dr Anthony writes down her conclusion: ‘Head injury and consequences thereof – unnatural cause.’
The third body is that of the 22-year-old Rudi van Breda, ‘certified dead on 27 January 2015 at 08:48’.
He is 1,7 metre tall and weighs about 80 kilograms. His face, hair and body, too, are bloodstained.
The chief findings include ‘external sharp and blunt trauma involving the head and left lateral upper neck’ with consequent brain injuries; small abrasions on the right knee and both wrists; a small incised wound on the left little finger and a loose nail on the same finger that suggest defensive wounds. The left lung has collapsed, and there is blood in the stomach.
The pathologist records the finer details in her notebook: a 7 x 1 centimetre penetrating incised wound on the left side of the upper neck; a large, irregular 20 x 4 centimetre laceration with an attached 7-centimetre linear abrasion to the left side of the head, with loose skull-bone fragments noted in association with this wound; a large, irregular 16 x 2,5 centimetre laceration with a 7 x 1,5 centimetre wound suggestive of a penetrating incised wound in the centre of the left upper area of the scalp, with partially damaged underlying brain tissue noted in association with this wound.
The oesophagus and stomach each contains a small amount of blood. No evidence of tablets, tablet pieces or residue in the stomach.
She hands over the requisite blood specimens and fingernail scrapings for analysis.
The cause of death: ‘Head injury and consequences thereof.’
As state witness in a future criminal case, Dr Anthony would be able to testify that the 22-year-old Rudi was attacked mainly on the left side of his head and body. That the attacker is most probably right-handed. That he wanted to make absolutely sure his victim would die.
With the autopsies concluded, her handwritten notes on each of the victims can now be typed up in the form of an official postmortem examination report for Constable Matho’s De Zalze docket.
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