Henri van Breda will only testify in his own defence at a later stage.
The defence lawyer for the triple murder accused yesterday told the Western Cape High Court that he would not call his client to testify “at this stage”.
Advocate Piet Botha said: “The evidence by the State is circumstantial, we intend calling expert witnesses and lay witnesses to counter that.”
In terms of the law, when the State closes its case, the defence must make its decision on whether it will call on the accused to testify.
In this case, Botha wanted to make that decision only after their expert witnesses had testified.
Usually, an accused is called as the defence’s first witness, so that they can’t chop and change their testimony.
Forced to make the choice, however, Botha said he would not call Henri to testify.
They can change this decision at a later stage, but it could backfire.
“If we change our mind we will have to live with any possible consequences or inferences your Lordship may draw,” Botha said.
But Senior State prosecutor Susan Galloway said if Henri testified last, it would prejudice the State.
RESERVED: Defence team
“He [Botha] says he wants to assess the veracity of what his experts say, is he trying to see how well they answer to points Henri must answer to? That is what his client must do. If he [Van Breda] testified last, we would not have the opportunity to cross-examine experts on Henri’s testimony.”
Judge Siraj Desai said he would give judgement on these points on 27 September.
Van Breda faces three counts of murder for the axe attacks on his parents and brother at their family home in Stellenbosch in January 2015.
The trial will resume after court recess on 9 October when the defence with call their first
witness.