The youngest and only surviving sibling of Henri van Breda, Marli, is waiting to hear whether her curatorship with advocate Louise Buikman will continue. This comes despite Marli being 20-years-old, and now a legal adult.
Buikman was elected to be Marli’s curator three years ago. This was extended in October of 2016 despite her being 18 years old already.
Buikman is the only person who may liase with the media in regards to Marli, and it has been stipulated the media exercise extreme caution when it comes to Marli.
Her older brother, Henri, was sentenced to three life terms for the brutal murder of their parents and brother. He was also to 15 years for the attempted murder of Marli. She was only 16 years old at the time of the attack at 12 Goske Street at De Zalze luxury estate in 2015.
As a result of her injuries, Marli suffered from retrograde amnesia, and could thus not recall the events that occurred on the night of the murder. Despite this, Marli was scheduled to deliver a report for consideration of the court only on Monday, but this was pushed back to 31 July.
State prosecutor, Susan Galloway, summarised the hardships that Marli has had to face ahead of the sentencing in court last week, and said that the media attention the 20-year-old young woman had been subjected to only forms a small part of the afore-mentioned hardships.
Galloway said that Marli was a vulnerable school girl who has now had to grow up alone with the knowledge that her own brother killed her parents and brother, and attacked her as well. “She has lost her family, home, and everything else, and nothing will ever be the same again for her,” she said.
Galloway also added that Henri left his own sister to suffer for hours before calling for help after the attack, and her surviving was not a mercy, but a miracle.
Marli has elected to protect what little privacy she has by declining to give a victim impact statement to Galloway before her brother’s sentencing last week.
Picture: HSM Images
