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IOL NEWS
South Africa. The missing Mpumalanga six-year-old boy, Junior Mabandla, who disappeared last month, has been found dead.
Police in Mpumalanga have for almost a month frantically searched for Junior and even offered a cash reward of R20,000 for information relating to the whereabouts of the six-year-old boy.
Junior, from Pienaar in Mpumalanga, went missing on June 3 when he allegedly went to buy sweets with friends, and never returned home.
On Thursday morning, Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli said community members called police and pointed out the suspect linked to Junior’s disappearance.
“Last night we received information from members of the community who were with an alleged suspect. They also indicated that there was a discovery of the remains, after the alleged suspect indicated that he was actually involved in the disappearance of the child,” Mdhluli told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika.
“So we went there. However, he was still in the hands of the community and he was assaulted. He showed us the place where the remains (of Junior). We went there and found that he had been murdered.”
Mdhluli said around midnight, the remains of the missing boy were retrieved by police’s forensic pathologists.
“Family members were also there on the site. The suspect is currently in custody, under police guard in hospital as he sustained some injuries,” he said.
Police added that Junior was identifiable from his clothes, and his remains were kept in a shopping bag.
“What is shocking is because this was on top of another grave of another person at a gravesite or a graveyard. The is the second incident in three days where we removed the remains of people who were buried on top of graves of other people. It is very shocking. However, the investigation is continuing,” said Mdhluli.
Mdhluli indicated that besides the discovery of Junior’s remains, police in Mpumalanga will on Thursday be exhuming remains of another child, aged three, who went missing on Wednesday.