Former Perth schoolboy on trial in South Africa for axe murder of his wealthy family

Henri van Breda will appear in a Cape Town courtroom today accused of butchering his multi-millionaire parents and brother with an axe. His sister, who survived the brutal killing, could be called to testify against him.

News.com.au reports the van Breda's had recently moved back to South Africa from Perth when police were called to their luxury home two years ago. There they found a harrowing scene: 21-year-old engineering student Rudi was slain in the bedroom next to the body of his father, Martin. Mum, Theresa was dead on the balcony. All three had received fatal blows to the head. Schoolgirl Marli, who was just 16, had had her jugular vein slashed. She was rushed to hospital and survived, but remembers nothing of the attack as she was in a coma.

Neighbours said they heard the family arguing on the night of the murders. Henri was reportedly using crystal meth in the run up to the murders, and his parents had cut his allowance.

Henri claimed that a burglar had broken in to the family's exclusive two-storey estate and gone on the rampage while he was in the bathroom. Almost a year later, he handed himself in to police. He was charged with three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and a further charge of obstructing justice. He had allegedly waited three hours before calling detectives to the scene. In the emergency call, he can be heard giggling.

Prosecutors are still weighing up whether to call Marli to testify against her brother. She has returned to boarding school in South Africa and the siblings have only met once since the attack under supervision. 

They were set to equally inherit their parents $20m fortune, made from real estate and other investments. But, under South African law, no convicted criminal can benefit from their crime.

The trial starts in Cape Town today.