A soft-spoken debit clerk convicted of hacking her mother and grandmother to death with an axe, smiled and laughed out loud as she hugged friends and family after a High Court sentenced her to life imprisonment on Monday.
Judge Chris Botha sentenced Marleen Bredenhann (29) to two terms of life imprisonment for the gruesome slaying of her mother, Elma (59) and invalid grandmother Albertina ”Dassie” Wambach (89) at their Dorandia home in April last year.
Bredenhann will however be back in court before a full bench of three judges next year after Judge Botha granted her leave to appeal against her conviction.
He said there were still unsolved aspects in the evidence that remained unexplained. Bredenhann was convicted on circumstantial evidence, including the fact that her mother’s blood was found on her clothes, and the court’s finding rested on credibility findings.
The court rejected her version that her uncle, Ludwig Wambach, was responsible for the murders and accepted Wambach’s protestations of innocence.
The court found she had been involved in the murders, but could not exclude the possibility that another person or persons may have been involved as well. No motive was established for the murders.
Botha said that where it came to a finding about the presence of blood on Bredenhann’s clothes, he was of the opinion that there was a reasonable possibility that another court might come to a different conclusion.
Bredenhann’s father, Hansie, told reporters he believed in his daughter’s innocence and would fight on to prove it. He said an investigation by well-known detective Suiker Brits into the murders would continue.
Her uncle Dirk said her loved ones had expected life imprisonment, but would remain firmly behind her. ”I believe what’s behind this whole thing and what will never come out is worse than fiction,” he said.
The court was abuzz with speculation about the ”real reasons” for the murders and just about everyone who attended the trial had their own theories about what might probably be one of the most puzzling murder cases ever heard in the Pretoria High Court.
The tiny, frail-looking Bredenhann, who was once again dressed in pink for her court appearance, looked calm and relaxed as she smiled and chatted with relatives before sentence was passed.
Although she at times wiped away tears while a social worker testified, she once again smiled and hugged her family and her former boyfriend after hearing her fate.
Social worker Rene Pretorius said almost all of the people she had spoken to believed that Bredenhann was innocent and that the murders did not fit in with her ”gentle and non-violent” nature.
Bredenhann maintained she was innocent and told the social worker that ”only a mad person” would have been able to kill her loved ones in such a cruel manner.
She said she would not have been able to swing the axe because of an old back injury sustained while horse riding, felt the police had never investigated the murders properly, and now placed her faith in the investigative powers of Suiker Brits.
She claimed to have lived in harmony with her mother and grandmother and said she had no motive to kill them. She was definitely not the monster referred to by newspapers.
Pretorius said Bredenhann had done well at school and never showed any signs of anti-social or violent behaviour. It was however possible that her parents’ divorce when she was still young had left her with a lack of emotional security and a feeling of rejection. She grew up in a milieu where outsiders were not easily trusted and the family functioned in a state of secrecy.
She also had a problem with her self-image, showed little emotion when the murders were discussed and appeared to be suppressing her emotions.
She is presently suffering from post-traumatic stress.
Although she had at first described the facial expressions of the two victims and told a psychologist about the pain and fright she had seen in them, Bredenhann later refused to talk about the incident at all, which the psychologist described as ”strange” as most people wanted to talk about their trauma to get rid of the
emotional pain.
Pretorius quoted from case studies which showed that ”over-controlled persons” sometimes became overwhelmed by frustration and provocation, resulting in them striking out violently. The more brutal and unexpected slayings were often performed by usually inhibited, restricted individuals, she said.
She said it was possible that Bredenhann’s emotions might have reached breaking point and that she had committed the acts in a moment of anger and impulsiveness. – Sapa