NATIONAL NEWS - This came after the State asked for another postponement as their expert witness was still booked off due to illness.
SAPS blood spatter analyst Captain Marius Joubert was expected to take to the stand in the Western Cape High Court on Monday, after the State told Judge Siraj Desai last week that he had taken ill.
Advocate Pieter Botha, for Van Breda, said his client could not afford another postponement, as he was running out of funds.
“The case is costing him a lot,” he pointed out to Desai.
Expecting Joubert to take to the stand, the defence had flown in their expert, Cobus Steyl from KwaZulu-Natal. He was in court last week when Joubert’s testimony was initially put on hold.
The State couldn’t help that Joubert was ill, the nature of which was shared with Desai in chambers, prosecutor Susan Galloway argued.
But the witness’s indisposition was also not his client’s fault, Botha responded.
Case postponed
Desai said the situation was not the fault of the State, and that he had to consider the interests of justice, as well as Van Breda’s right to a fair trial.
He granted the postponement, with court resuming on September 11.
Marli van Breda, the only other surviving family member, will not testify for the State in the triple murder trial of her brother.
Although Marli, who is now 18 years old, was included on its witness list, she will not testify as she has not regained her memory.
She has not yet been seen attending the trial.
She has retrograde amnesia and cannot recall anything about the attack.
