Judge Siraj Desai was quick to instruct that the media not publish or report on post-mortem photos of the Van Breda family who was slaughtered at their De Zalze Estate home in January 2015.
Henri van Breda is accused of murdering his parents Martin and Theresa, and his brother Rudi with an axe.
He also faces an attempted murder charge for the attack on his sister Marli, who survived with severe brain injuries and amnesia.
Proceedings kicked off on Tuesday with the cross-examination of Sergeant Adrian Kleynhans, the first officer to arrive at the murder scene.
Defence lawyer Pieter Botha grilled the officer about his movement through the house and how he approached the crime scene.
The officer had testified that he had seen no evidence of a burglary when he arrived at the posh Goske Street house.
Valuables, like a laptop and a handbag, had been in clear sight.
Botha pointed out that there have been 24 burglaries at De Zalze Estate since 2002.
Van Breda, in his plea explanation, had claimed that the family had been attacked by a “laughing” black man wearing a balaclava.
Botha grilled Kleynhans on his testimony that the accused “appeared emotional, like he was blowing off steam, and was nervous but wasn’t crying” or traumatised.
The defence said that in Kleynhans’ statement of the incident, he had described Henri as traumatised.
Asked about the varying descriptions of Van Breda, the officer apologised for his “mistake”.
Kleynhans had also said that he smelled alcohol on the breath of Van Breda.
Botha then countered saying no alcohol or chemicals were found in his blood, according to medical test results.