Body found in Durban confirmed as that of missing child Miguel Louw
Image: Jeff Wicks
Police have discovered a decomposing body in Phoenix‚ outside Durban – and on Monday afternoon gave case details that identified the body as that of missing 9-year-old Miguel Louw.
Police sources with knowledge of the investigation said that a decomposing body was found buried in a park in Longbury Drive‚ Phoenix‚ on Monday afternoon.
SAPS spokesman Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that police were on the scene.
“The boy went missing on July 17 at Sydenham area. The scene is still on‚” she said.
The body was found by Glen Naidoo‚ head of a private security company. One of the child’s aunts‚ who was there with police‚ could be heard wailing uncontrollably as she witnessed the scene playing out before her.
Police erected a wide cordon around a park in Longbury Drive‚ with crime scene technicians focusing their attention on a patch of brush near a ravine.
It is understood that officers had happened upon the body while chasing suspects from a business robbery.
Image: JACKIE CLAUSEN
Naidoo‚ of private security company KZN VIP Protection Services‚ said that his guards had chased several men into the ravine and called the police for help. It was during this unrelated chase that they stumbled on the shallow grave.
“We thought they were armed‚ so we called the police. When the police came we started searching and came across a foul stench‚” he told TimesLIVE.
He said that they found a badly decomposed body of a child wearing a school uniform under some bushes.
Arlene Paul‚ the boy’s grandmother‚ told TimesLIVE that the family had received calls earlier on Monday telling them that Miguel’s body was found in Phoenix. But they did not believe it because the calls had not come from officers involved in the case.
“We thought it was a prank‚” she said.
This is a developing story.