A South African man who murdered his parents and brother with an axe has been sentenced to life in prison.
Henri van Breda, age 23, was also given 15 years for the attempted murder of his teenage sister, Marli, during the frenzied January 2015 attack.
Sitting in the High Court, the Judge Siraj Desai said the “cold-blooded murders” had been carried out with “excessive and gratuitous violence”.
Van Breda’s defence lawyer says he intends to appeal.
According to BBC News, the case has horrified South Africans, with one paramedic telling the court the scene in the family’s upmarket Stellenbosch home was the worst thing he had seen in a career spanning almost four decades.
Van Breda, then just 20, used an axe to slaughter his father, Martin, age 54, his mother, Teresa, age 55, and older brother Rudi, age 22, as they slept. He also attacked his sister Marli, then just 16, apparently leaving her for dead.
Van Breda denied all charges against him, claiming he had also been a victim of a man he claimed had broken in and attacked his family.
