Henri van Breda has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, one of attempted murder and one of defeating the ends of justice in the murders of his parents and sibling.
James Reade-Jahn started dating Marli from February 2014 and they were still in a relationship at the time of the axe murders, reports EWN's Monique Mortlock.
Reade-Jahn testified that he spent a lot of time at the van Breda home and described how he learned of the attack at their De Zalze property in Stellenbosch in January 2015.
He mentioned that the family had the details of emergency numbers posted in a newsletter on their refrigerator, which calls into question why Henri van Breda took so long to call for help on the night.
Reade-Jahn also had to explain an exchange of impassioned WhatsApp messages in which he threatened to kill Marli's family, following a family argument a week prior to the attack.
Take a listen to the report here:
Listen to a report on earlier testimonies from the Van Breda trial here:
![[LISTEN] Van Breda's call to emergency services: 'My family and I were attacked'](https://cdn.primedia.co.za/primedia-broadcasting/image/upload/fl_progressive,q_80/c_fill,g_faces,h_148,w_233/mjexcsw8wzvuqcjl28of.jpg)
![[WATCH] The year that was in local news](https://cdn.primedia.co.za/primedia-broadcasting/image/upload/c_fill,h_68,q_70,w_68/r3lbg8swp1idcf9gbuxb)
