The larney house in Stellenbosch, reported to have since been sold for R5.8 million, was so big that Warrant Officer Andrè Hitchcock had a colleague help him collect evidence, which included DNA swabs.
Hitchcock, who yesterday testified in Henri van Breda’s triple murder trial, left Worcester when he got a call to be at the crime scene.
He said the first thing he did was to take video footage of the house, which was still untouched after the attacks.
He then photographed everything that could potentially be used as evidence.
Once he did this, he then placed orange cones at certain points where he would collect evidence, and photographed those as well.
Hitchcock also took several DNA swabs, including from the shower handle, the shower floor, a cupboard in the family’s study room, and the axe found on the stairs.
“Because it was a big (crime) scene, a colleague went with me,” Hitchcock said.
The house was left relatively neat after the attack, Hitchcock said, adding it was unusual after a break-in, which Van Breda claimed had happened.
Hitchcock, who has 22 years’ experience in forensics and had worked on thousands of cases, said usually drawers are tossed as robbers search for valuables.
His cross-examination continues on Monday when the trial is expected to re-commence.
Earlier in the day Judge Siraj Desai ruled that an initial statement Van Breda had made to police may be presented as evidence in court.
The admissibility was challenged by his lawyer, Pieter Botha, who argued it had been taken when his client was treated as a suspect and therefore had the right to remain silent.
Desai said he will provide reasons at a later stage as to why he allowed it to be admitted.
Van Breda, 22, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, one of attempted murder, and one of defeating the ends of justice after his mother Teresa, 55, father Martin, 54, and brother Rudi, 22, were killed with an axe.
His sister Marli survived but now suffers from memory loss (retrograde amnesia).