Julian Jansen 
The De Zalze Murders 
The Story Behind the Brutal Axe Attack

The Van Bredas were the perfect family. Wealthy, successful and well-liked. In a luxury estate just outside Stellenbosch they lived what seemed like a dream life. But everything changed overnight. The gruesome murders of Martin, his wife Teresa and their son Rudi shocked South Africa. Julian Jansen, one of the first reporters on the scene, immediately realised that the case was going to place exceptional demands on the police. He was also deeply shaken by the events. As relatives and friends one by one started talking to Jansen, a picture emerged of parents at their wits’ end with their difficult ‘loner’ child and his drug problem. Could it be that the Van Bredas’ own son had wielded the axe? From the moment the news broke, Rapport journalist Julian Jansen has followed the case closely as a reporter for the Sunday press grappling with the human side of this tragedy.

Over de auteur

Julian Jansen was born in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape and grew up in Strand in the Western Cape. During an 18-year career as a teacher he taught Geography and History at two schools in the Helderberg. For the past 10 years he has been a journalist in the Sunday newspaper Rapport’s Cape Town office – with a short break in 2009 when he was spokesperson and speech writer for the Western Cape MEC for Community Safety. In 2010 he received a commendation in the hard news category of the Mondi Shanduka Newspaper Awards. This was in recognition for his contributions in a team that reported on the murder of Anni Hindocha and the charges against her husband, Shrien Dewani. In 2013 he was awarded Rapport’s Special Editor’s Prize for his reporting. While he focuses mostly on crime reporting, Julian also enjoys writing stories about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity and about ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things.