van Breda family's Queensland home up for sale two years after axe murder
The van Breda family's multi-million dollar home on the Sunshine Coast where they lived for three years before their son allegedly hacked them to death with an axe in South Africa is up for sale.
The palatial home nestled in the lush, forested hills of Buderim was where Martin van Breda hoped to bring his family to, a close friend said.
The businessman, his wife Teresa and their eldest son Rudi, 22, were killed and their daughter Marli, 16, was seriously injured in a January 2015 attack in their home at the De Zalza golf estate in South Africa.
Henri van Breda, 20, sustained minor injuries and called emergency services in to report the attack.
On the phone he allegedly told police "my family were attacked by a guy with an axe" before giggling slightly, saying they were "bleeding from the head" and unconscious.
Nearly 18 months after the attack Henri handed himself into police with his lawyer by his side.
The following day he was changed with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder and a charge of defeating the ends of justice.
Perth student accused of axe murder of parents and brother likely to face trial next year
Henri van Breda 'handed himself into police' over family's brutal murder
The murder trial is expected to begin later this month and tipped to be a sensational case in South Africa.
Mr van Breda's friend Paul Freney told the Sunshine Coast Daily the last time he saw the father-of-three was when he flew out for South Africa in November 2014.
"We had coffee in Mooloolaba. He was coming and going as he was building a school over there," Mr Freney said.
"I never saw him again."
Mr Freney had been involved with the house's purchase, telling the newspaper of its transformation from a bed and breakfast into a family home with a "real African style home, roundish, with lots of woods and views over Caloundra".
He said he met the Van Breda family many times while the place was being decked out with their cars and furniture from Africa.
The house was listed the McGrath Real Estate in January for $2.49 million, with family lawyers saying the executor of the family estate was overseeing the sale, in accordance with the will.
The van Breda family had lived in Perth for several years while the children studied before returning to their native South Africa in 2014.
Their teenage daughter Marli was almost killed by severe head wounds and suffered from a severed jugular, but recovered and returned to school.
The murder trial begins later this month.
Today's top news headlines - March 8
