Cape Town - The family of 12-year-old Sibusiso Dakuse, who was raped and killed in February 2020, are questioning how police went about investigating his disappearance, claiming that the boy may have been rescued if police searched properly.
Basketball coach Marvin Minnaar was on trial inthe Western Cape High Court, charged with the rape, kidnap and murder of Sibusiso. Minnaar yesterday pleaded “not guilty” to all three charges.
Forensic pathologist Dr Bronwyn Inglis took the stand to give evidence relating to how Sibusiso was killed.
Questioned by State advocate Nadia Ajam, Inglis said she was tasked with doing the post-mortem examination on February 28, 2020 and was directed towards an area off Manchester Road, Hout Bay, where the body had been found.
From her examination of Sibusiso’s remains, she found abrasions scattered across his body, a bruise to his eye caused by blunt force and linear abrasions around the circumference of his neck.
As a result of the ligature abrasion around his neck and her internal examination, she said her findings were consistent with murder by strangulation. “I also examined the anus at the scene and it appeared violated,” she said.
Following Inglis’s testimony, Sibusiso’s Aunt Andiswa Ndzakayi said: “He went missing on Wednesday. He came back after school, washed his school shirts, and went out to play with other kids as usual.”
She said Sibusiso had been staying with his paternal grandmother when he went missing that afternoon.
“According to the kids that were playing with him they told us that he left with the coach for the chemist to buy a (smoking pipe) for his grandfather. Upon asking the coach, he told us that on their way back they took different routes, however, he was the last person to be seen with the child.
She said Minnaar even joined the search party, but she blames the police for not conducting a proper investigation owing to the officer’s familiarity with the coach.
She said a Hout Bay officer had accompanied them to the coach’s house to enquire about the boy’s whereabouts, but when the officer allegedly realised they were “family”, he greeted Minnaar only and left.
“Had the officer searched the bedrooms we believe the child would have been found alive, though already raped,” she said.
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