The marathon trial of 23-year-old Henri Van Breda will come to an end on 23 April.
Judge Siraj Desai postponed the case for judgement to give himself enough time to “evaluate the evidence”.
Van Breda is accused of murdering his parents, Martin and Teresa, and older brother Rudi, with an axe at the family home in the De Zalze, Stellenbosch, estate in January 2015.
He also faces a charge of attempted murder for the attack on his sister Marli.
Van Breda claimed a laughing, axe-wielding intruder, also armed with a knife, and wearing a balaclava and gloves was behind the vicious attacks.
Defence advocate Piet Botha, in final arguments, yesterday insisted that this version was reasonably true and dismissed the state’s case, saying their evidence was of “poor quality” and that it had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
In reply, senior state prosecutor Susan Galloway said there “was no evidence of unlawful entry or anyone entering undetected”.
“There was no evidence of any vehicle speeding away or driving away from 12 Goske Street”.
Furthermore, there had been no reports from the control room nor residents, and nothing was stolen.
She also picked apart the defence’s assertion that the two hour and 40 minute time lapse between the attacks and Van Breda’s call to emergency services had not been because of an epileptic seizure, pointing out witness Dr James Butler had conceded Van Breda had been faking it.
She said four out of five members of the family were brutally attacked and left for dead, but his injuries, allegedly self-inflicted, “were different to the rest of the family”.
“The only reasonable inference is that the accused is the attacker.”