Miguel Louw's alleged killer thought the boy's abduction 'was a joke'

On the day the parents of slain Sydenham boy Miguel Louw began a frantic search for their son, the man accused of his murder thought the abduction was a joke.

This is what Mohammed Ebrahim, 43, told the Durban Magistrate's Court on Wednesday during cross-examination by state prosecutor Kuveshnie Pillay.

"My sister showed me a post on crime stop saying the boy was missing ... I thought it was a joke because, you know, the media always says false things," said Ebrahim.

He told the court that he only realised Miguel was in fact missing several days later when he was arrested.

Referring to Miguel only as "the boy", Ebrahim told the court that on the day of the nine-year-old's disappearance he had been working at the Louw home doing painting and other household chores. He said he had run into Miguel as he was leaving the Louw home to catch a taxi.

"I met him at the robot and told him that there was no food at home, so I took him to KFC because he was hungry," said Ebrahim.

During the heated cross-examination by Pillay, an at-times incoherent Ebrahim told the court he was a regular in the Louw home and that he and Miguel's mother, Raylene, were in a relationship.

The two worked at the same butchery. Ebrahim lived with Miguel and his mother at their Sydenham home for two weeks before an apparent altercation. 

During the cross-examination, Raylene remained motionless and deadpan, making no eye contact with Ebrahim. However, there were audible gasps when Ebrahim made the claim that he was in a relationship with the boy's mother.

The bail application was expected to continue after lunch when Pillay will continue her cross-examination.