Africa-Press – South-Africa. The lifeless body of 12-year-old Sibusiso Dakuse was neatly arranged on a bed of brown dried reeds – he was lying on his stomach with his legs pressed tightly together and his feet turned to the right when he was finally found after he had gone missing in Hout Bay in February 2020.
Footage of the scene where Sibusiso’s body was found was played in the Western Cape High Court.
The reeds around him seemed to form a cradle, protecting him from the wind.
The tidiness of the spot where he was found, contrasted with the scenes of disarray further away, where blue tracksuit pants lay in one spot, a navy-blue shirt thrown between reeds, the broken stem of a lily partially obscuring red, black and green slide-on sandals. Two pieces of balled-up toilet paper were found on the ground.
A pair of white underpants with the word “Happy” repeated along the waistband lay crumpled at a distance.
When prosecutor Nadia Ajam ended the video, which had been taken by one of the investigating officers, there was a hush over the Western Cape High Court with nobody speaking or moving for almost a minute.
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And then, people started shifting in their seats, looking at each other, and the accused, Marvin Minnaar.
Most of Sibusiso’s family opted to leave the court when the video was shown and entered into evidence during Minnaar’s kidnap, rape, and murder trial.
They were warned that they would find it difficult, and Judge Constance Nziweni seemed to steel herself for what was to come.
Sibusiso disappeared on 26 February 2020, and his body was found in the reeds off Manchester Road in Hout Bay two days later.
Minnaar pleaded not guilty and opted to remain silent through the trial, which means the State cannot rely on his testimony as the court pieces together what may have led to Sibusiso’s tragic death.
He is understood to have mentored basketball fans in the tight-knit community of Imizamo Yethu, a suburb of Hout Bay.
So far, forensic pathologist Dr Bronwyn Inglis has testified that Sibusiso was most likely strangled and raped.
No DNA other than that of Dakuse’s was found in the rape kit results.
Postmortem day is usually extremely difficult for families to listen to, and in this case, they had to hear a discussion on injuries to Sibusiso’s body, which may be linked to the suspected rape.
Throughout this, Minnaar stared straight ahead and listened.
The trial was postponed to Monday.
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