Mohamed Vahed Ebrahim has been found guilty of the kidnapping and premeditated murder of nine-year-old Miguel Louw, whose decomposed body was discovered in bushes in Phoenix in September 2018, about six weeks after he went missing.
Louw, who was a grade 4 pupil at Sydenham, was last seen in the company of Ebrahim, who was a friend of his mother and used to do odd jobs for the family.
Sentencing proceedings are expected to get under way on Wednesday when Ebrahim will have to put forward “substantial and compelling circumstances”, if he wishes to avoid the prescribed sentence of life imprisonment.
Durban high court judge Jacqueline Henriques handed down a summary of her reasons for finding him guilty, explaining that the trial had taken more than 20 days and had involved complex forensic and medical evidence.
“Despite my best efforts, the judgment consists of 183 pages. It is not practical nor feasible to read it into the record,” she said.
Ebrahim pleaded not guilty to all charges and chose not to testify.
The judge said at the close of the state’s case — which was presented by state advocate Kelvin Singh — the evidence had established that Ebraham and Miguel’s mother Raylene Louw had had two arguments, the second of which occurred two days before Miguel went missing.
“He [Ebrahim] declared his love for her. She responded that they were just friends. He said ‘I will show you’.”
The judge said the WhatsApp messages showed that it was a one-sided relationship, and that Ebrahim was jealous and possessive over Raylene.
That Monday - the day Miguel went missing - Ebrahim had asked Miguel’s sister what time he finished school. He then went, without any permission, and fetched the child. CCTV footage from the nearby KFC showed the two sitting together, waiting for a takeaway order.
They were then seen leaving, with Ebrahim holding Miguel’s hand. Another camera showed them crossing the road and heading away from Miguel’s house.
His sister raised the alarm at 3pm.
In WhatsApp exchanges with the family, Ebrahim did not disclose that he had seen the child earlier at the KFC.
Cellphone evidence presented to the court proved on that afternoon Ebrahim was in the vicinity of Phoenix, near his home and where Miguel’s body was found on September 2 by a policeman in pursuit of suspects.
While his body was badly decomposed, medical reports suggested that he had been suffocated and had died soon after disappearing.
Judge Henriques said the defence had submitted that there were other potential suspects and that the court should not exclude the possibility that he was killed by someone else and his body placed close to Ebrahim’s home to cast suspicion on him because it was public knowledge that the child had been last seen in his company.
“I have carefully considered these hypotheses and have no hesitation in rejecting them,” the judge said.
In going through the evidence of many of the state’s witnesses, she found most to be reliable and praised the investigating officer, warrant officer Rajan Govender, for his “high level of professionalism”.
“Having carefully analysed the evidence, I am of the view that the probabilities are overwhelmingly in favour of the state’s case. There is a plethora of evidence against Ebrahim and as a whole it translates into proof beyond reasonable doubt.”
