The De Zalze Murders. Julian Jansen
Loner
HENRI’S NERVOUS, ALMOST amused giggle in an audio recording of his conversation with the emergency services when he called them to De Zalze on the morning of the murders does not go unnoticed – or uncriticised. In light of the tragedy in which he finds himself, it sounds somewhat callous.
The ambulance service operator’s floundering regarding the street names also attracts attention. Had it not been for the gravity of the emergency, her bumbling efforts to find the correct address would have verged on the comical. Moreover, the leaking of the audio clip of the emergency call, which was broadcast as an exclusive by the television news channel eNCA, leaves the Western Cape Health Department red-faced. The breach of confidential information leads to an internal investigation, additional security measures, and disciplinary steps.
Two days after the murders, an Australian newspaper report causes quite a stir in South Africa. Tucked away in the online version of The West Australian, an article headlined ‘Family left safety of Perth’ claims that Henri had suspended his studies temporarily the previous year because doctors discovered a tumour in his brain. He reportedly went to live with his parents in South Africa while receiving treatment.
Family spokesman Ben Rootman is put on the spot. He confirms that Henri did undergo a brain scan at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, but the tests were ‘negative’ for any cyst or tumour, and merely ‘part of a medical examination’. The relatives have too little first-hand information at their disposal to provide further information in this regard. What they can say, however, is that Henri took a ‘gap year’ and returned to South Africa in September of the previous year.
The Australian media did not mention whether the hospital had medical reports available. If any such report existed, the police would be able to request it.
In an Australian newspaper, an ‘impeccable police source’ confirms that a medical doctor informed the investigating team of the brain scan, and that the term ‘brain tumour’ has been pertinently mentioned in the murder investigation. According to medical experts consulted by the media, a brain tumour, especially in the frontal lobes, may lead to impulsive behaviour.
Did Martin and Teresa perhaps know of the existence of a tumour in their son’s brain? If so, they kept this information from the extended family. Right until the end.
In the meantime, new allegations start circulating about Henri and drugs. The rumours simply refuse to die down. In a spontaneous e-mail to Rapport, a resident of Perth and close acquaintance of the family claims that both in Perth and later in Melbourne, where he was at university, Henri ‘got into trouble about his drug use’. It was also rumoured among students in Perth that Henri had been caught with dagga in his possession and was subsequently sent home.
Henri’s nickname at university was reportedly ‘Druggie’. He had allegedly also clashed with the authorities in Melbourne over his drug use. Could that be the reason he ‘dropped out’ of his course and returned to South Africa the year before? And what was his parents’ explanation to the relatives and friends who wondered why he left Australia in the middle of his academic year?
Yes, there was ‘great discord’ in the household about Henri’s drug use, said friends who had visited the family at home in the week before the murders. Furthermore, Henri was apparently ‘pissed off’ because his parents supposedly ‘favoured’ Rudi, and made his feelings known about this in no uncertain terms.
His mother was part of a lift club of parents from Marli’s school, who took turns to drive their children daily to Somerset College. ‘Teresa was sometimes so exhausted from sitting up at night with Henri that his dad had to take the children to school in her place,’ a friend of the family recounted. ‘Martin knew his younger son was taking drugs. At some point he threatened to cut off his allowance. He had high expectations of his children; therefore it upset him that Henri was not at university and “loafed about” at home.’
Martin occasionally raised his son’s drug use in conversations with intimate friends. ‘At one stage, he was very concerned when he found dagga in Henri’s possession.’
He took Henri to task about the issue more than once. One such confrontation was reportedly witnessed in the weeks before the murders by Delores van Wyk, carer of the Van Breda family’s neighbour Martin Locke. But the friendly woman was wary of elaborating on what she had observed. ‘I’ll probably have to testify in court. I’m already scared. I can’t sleep. I saw and heard things I can’t talk about now. It was of such a nature that I couldn’t sleep for a long time,’ she said softly. What exactly she saw and heard she refused to reveal, mentioning only that the detectives had ‘questioned’ her about it.
Teresa’s close friend Michelle Barnard related earlier that Henri had always been the quiet one, the middle child. ‘Since childhood he hasn’t easily made friends. Always apart … in such a happy, close family.
‘Something about him has always been different. For some or other reason my sons didn’t play with Henri. I couldn’t connect with him either. I have hundreds of photos of our children’s parties. They show all the children sitting around the table. But Henri sits apart on the ground. On his own.’
She recalled the time she and her family visited the Van Bredas at Thesen Islands in Knysna in 2013. Her sons went rowing with Rudi in the sea. ‘Henri didn’t want to go along, like many times before. Rudi then told my sons that Henri was “seriously on dagga and other hard drugs such as tik [crystal meth]”. They were so shocked about it, and too scared and ashamed to discuss it with me. If they’d told me about it at the time, I would definitely have informed Teresa. I would’ve warned her.’
Michelle wished that Teresa had told her about Henri. ‘I knew everything about her marriage, and she about mine. Everything. She’d said absolutely nothing about any such problems. Maybe she kept it only to herself. Teresa would have wanted to protect Henri, perhaps tried to hide the “shame” of his addiction to drugs. These were private matters. Who knows the heart of a mother?
‘I heard from friends that Teresa told Henri the day before the murders she wouldn’t “give him another cent”.’
An altercation that took place the year before between Henri and Margaret Delport, a domestic worker on the estate, is also made public. Colleagues describe her as a ‘deeply religious person’ who counsels drug addicts in her spare time. According to Margaret, Henri made obscene and offensive remarks to her when she ran into him at De Zalze in October. ‘He shouted at me: “Hei! Jy is darem maar ’n lekker m*** met ’n lekker p*** en ek gaan jou lekker n***!” [Hey! You’re a hot m*** with a hot c*** and I’m going to f*** you good!]. I thought immediately that Henri could be under the influence of drugs.’
She shouted back at Henri: ‘You need God in your life! Go to your home!’ A security guard on the estate told her afterwards: ‘Auntie, don’t take any notice of him; he’s always been a nut case.’
Margaret says she heard later that his parents were also worried about him. She didn’t see him again – until she caught sight of a newspaper in the week after the murders. ‘Then I thought, oh my King, it’s that boy!’
Rapport’s front-page story about this interaction prompts a businesswoman from Stellenbosch to summarily phone the paper. A little worked up and breathless, she tells of a commotion at a shopping centre in Welgevonden outside Stellenbosch about two weeks before the murders: ‘Henri and his friends turned up here in a car. He carried on like a madman in the parking area and danced to the filthiest rhyme. Then he opened his fly, swung his private parts around, and shouted to the young women what he was going to do to them. The words were the same as those he’d said to the domestic worker at De Zalze. When I read the words in the article, I recognised the rhyme.’
Further persistent rumours – this time allegations that Henri used to buy drugs, including tik, regularly in the vicinity of the estate – cause the media to descend on Kreefgat, an informal settlement a stone’s throw from the main entrance of De Zalze. A resident of Kreefgat, Robert Minnies,3 recognises Henri at once from colour photos. He often came across him, Minnies said,