Father charged with murder of missing son in Cape Town

A father has been charged with the murder of his 12-year-old son almost a month after they were reported missing, Western Cape police said on Sunday.

The 59-year-old Namibian national is in custody and a body was unearthed in Kuils Rver on Saturday afternoon, spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa confirmed.

“The suspect was reported missing with his son in Kuils River on November 30. As part of the police investigation into their disappearance, pictures and details were subsequently circulated in a bid to locate their whereabouts,” she said.

“Police in Van Rhynsdorp, a small town on the West Coast, recognised the father from circulated photographs of the two. He was taken in and transported to Cape Town.

“On Saturday afternoon he confessed to killing his son and pointed out where the body was buried. Detectives with support from other crime scene experts retrieved the decomposed body near a canal in Soneike, Kuils River.”

DNA tests would be conducted to determine whether the remains were indeed that of the missing boy, Potelwa said.

The suspect is expected in court soon, she added.

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