Court hears why Marli’s blood was not on axe
Two major questions hung over the trial of her brother, Henri, in the Cape Town High Court yesterday:
- Why was none of Marli’s blood or DNA found on the head of the axe allegedly used to attack her?
- Why was none of her blood found on the shorts and socks of the accused?
At least nine inconsistencies came to light between the blood evidence and his plea statement.
Yesterday, defence counsel Piet Botha asked Joubert about the absence of Marli’s DNA or blood on the axe and Van Breda’s clothing.
Marli was left for dead when her parents, Martin and Teresa, and brother Rudi were hacked to death with an axe at their luxury home in Stellenbosch in January 2015.
However‚ Joubert referred to a principle which says “the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence”.
He said it was possible that Marli’s injuries – lacerations spread out over her neck and head – were not as prone to major blood-shedding as those sustained by her parents and brother, who had been hit repeatedly in the same places on their heads.
Joubert said the nature of her lacerations would make her bleeding different.
“You have to get blood to the surface to transfer it onto an axe. The first blow will create trauma to the tissue‚ but only if you strike in the same place will it bring blood.
“If you hit once in different areas‚ the chances of transferring blood onto the weapon are actually minimal,” he said.
“There are so many variables – including whether it is soft tissue being hit or not.”
It has also come up in the trial before that Marli put up a major fight against her attacker.
Martin and Rudi were caught unaware‚ according to state witnesses‚ and Teresa was facing her at- tacker but went down quickly.
This could explain why lacerations more likely to cause profuse bleeding onto the axe did not occur in Marli’s case.
