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Van Breda defence questions crime scene investigation

Advocate Botha has told the court that officers first at the scene of the crime missed blood stains in and around the family home.

Murder-accused Henri van Breda at the Western Cape High Court. Picture: Monique Mortlock/EWN.

CAPE TOWN The legal team representing triple-murder accused Henri van Breda has pointed out that the first officer to arrive at the crime scene missed blood stains in and around the family home.

Defence advocate Pieter Botha has been cross-examining first responding officer Sergeant Adrian Kleynhans.

Kleynhans has admitted he doesn't have a good memory and that he may have made a few mistakes in his initial statement. One of these includes his description of the then emotional state of the accused.

Botha showed the court zoomed-in pictures taken of the crime scene in which some blood spatter can be seen inside the house and on an outside wall.

Kleynhans has admitted to not noticing those blood stains.

Kleynhans says he noted several observations, including spotting valuables on the ground floor, which led him to believe no one broke in.

The officer has admitted he was wrong to have stated no one could have entered the property after Botha pointed out it is possible to scale the walls.

Botha has argued discrepancies in Kleynhans' statement, including not noticing the blood stains and making assumptions about van Breda's emotional state, all attempted to show a robbery never took place.

(Edited by Masechaba Sefularo)

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Van Breda defence questions crime scene investigation - Eyewitness News