At the trial-within-a-trial which began in the High Court in Cape Town on Friday‚ defence counsel Piet Botha has described Van Breda as a young man shivering in just underpants‚ deprived of sleep‚ hungry and traumatised at just having seen his parents and brother axed to death in the Stellenbosch family home.
He wants the statement Van Breda gave to police on January 27‚ 2015‚ to be disallowed as evidence in court.
The state says he was perfectly calm‚ was treated as a victim and not a suspect‚ and happily signed an electronic version of the statement.
Botha argued that Van Breda was pinned as a suspect right from the beginning but was then denied his rights to silence or legal representation.
But Susan Galloway‚ for the state‚ told Desai on Wednesday: “When he gave his statement‚ he was perceived as the only surviving member of the Van Breda family who was able to give an account of what happened.”
At that stage‚ “there was no incriminating evidence” and Van Breda was “calm and was able to give an account of what happened”.
