Henri van Breda sentencing: Who is axe murderer's smiling support in court?

As a former Perth schoolboy was sentenced for the grissly axe murders of his parents and brother, his girlfriend watched on smiling.

Henri van Breda, was yesterday handed three life sentences for murdering his parents Martin and Teresa and brother, Rudi, in their affluent South African housing estate.

The 23-year-old remained impassive as Judge Sirah Desai recalled details of the 2015 attack, before also handing down a further 15-year sentence for the attempted murder of his sister Marli.

While van Breda was dating someone at the time of the murders, it was a different girlfriend who was supporting him in Western Cape High Court on Thursday.

Danielle Janse van Rensburg, 22, met van Breda at a Cape Town chef school in February 2016 and protested his innocence in an interview with You Magazine later that year.

“Anyone who spends a day with him (Henri) will realise he couldn’t do such a thing,” Miss van Rensberg told the magazine.

“I believe in his innocence 100 per cent.”

Ms van Rensburg, who had been living with the now-convicted murderer, sat quietly in court as Judge Sirah Desai recalled the details of her boyfriend’s “cold-blooded” murder.

“These attacks display a high level of innate cruelty,” Desai said.

“The violence was excessive and gratuitous. It was intended to cause maximum harm.”

Images taken inside the courtroom show Ms van Rensburg grinning as she talks to other members of the van Breda family following the sentencing.

Van Breda also received a one-year sentence for obstructing justice after the court concluded that he inflicted injuries on himself to try to mislead police.

South Africa’s government welcomed the sentencing, saying it “serves as a deterrent to others who think that violence in the family will be allowed in South Africa”.