“I heard what sounded to me like a giggle, and my initial thought was that it was a prank call,” Janine Philander told the Western Cape High Court yesterday.
Philander was working at the City of Cape Town’s Emergency Communication Centre when she received a call from the triple murder accused.
Van Breda is accused of slaughtering his parents with an axe, and the attempted murder of his sister at the family’s larney De Zalze estate home in Stellenbosch.
Philander said she was on duty on the morning when she received his call at 7.12am on 27 January 2015.
While being questioned by Megan Blows, for the State, Philander revealed that the call with Henri was “one of the weirdest ever for me”.
She said that typically when people call, they are frantic, shouting, crying and quite confused, but described Henri as quiet and calm, and very co-operative.
When asked why she thought the call was a prank, Philander said: “It was the way he sounded.”
She said callers normally say “get the people out here now” or “people are dying, get them out now”, but he was cool and calm.
Philander said usually calls to their services are short, as people would not hold on the line, but the call with Henri lasted approximately 20 to 30 minutes.
Played
The audio clips of the emergency call were not played in court over concerns about the quality of the sound.
Judge Siraj Desai said the court would hear the recordings when more audible copies were available.
Earlier, the Van Bredas’ neighbour, Stephanie Op’t Hof, gave evidence that she had heard “manly, aggressive voices” coming from the house.
Op’t Hof had been working on her laptop after putting her two sons to bed.
It was between 10pm and 11.50pm that she heard raised voices.
Defence lawyer Matthys Combrink cross-examined her, stating that according to Van Breda, the family had recently bought a new sound system, and along with it came a Star Trek movie he and his family watched that night.
Mistaken
Combrink questioned whether or not she had mistaken the voices for the sounds coming from the TV.
Op’t Hof said she did not hear any other sound effects of a Star Trek or a Star Wars, only raised voices.
The trial continues today.