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Mikayla suspect 'a quiet man'
25/06/2007 09:42 - (SA)
Jackie Pienaar , Die Burger
Swellendam - Only a rickety wire fence separated the backyard of Mikayla Rossouw's parent's house from the neighbour's backyard where her body was found in a corrugated iron hut early on Saturday morning.
Her body was found in a black bag under a bed only metres from where her mother had seen her playing for the last time 13 days ago. The gruesome find was made a day after the police had decided to stop the formal search for Mikayla in her hometown.
The search had already been extended to Bonnievale, but new information led the police back to the semi-detached house where Mikayla's family lived on one side while the family of the suspect lived on the other. The neighbour confirmed that his 24-year-old stepson, who lived in the hut, had been arrested.
Rumours that fresh blood had been found inside the hut could not be confirmed.
The suspect, who, according to neighbours, apparently has a daughter the same age as Mikayla, was allegedly so intoxicated that he couldn't be questioned immediately.
'He has always been quiet'
The previous day Mikayla's mother, Elsabe, in an interview pleaded with whoever had taken her daughter to put her down somewhere so that she could find her way back home.
The suspect's stepfather and other residents on this street described the suspect as a very quiet person. "He has always been quiet. He only spoke when spoken to," said his stepfather. The suspect's own father was apparently stabbed to death.
Several rumours about Mikayla's death, a Grade 1 pupil at Bontebok Primary School, were doing the rounds. One was that her body had been cut up, but that was not true, Die Burger found.
It was also rumoured that the suspect, a builder, stayed away from work for a week and that he had refused to allow Bambanani volunteers to search his hut. He allegedly also told police that the blood in the hut belonged to his girlfriend, whom he had beaten.
A group of angry community members walked to the police station on Saturday afternoon and threatened to set it alight to burn with the suspect inside.
Western Cape minister of community safety, Leonard Ramatlakane, who visited Mikayla's family on Sunday, and Willie Januarie, a teacher from Bontebok Primary, at a service in a hall of the United Reformed Church in Railton requested that the community not take the law into their own hands.
Mikayla's mother sat with downcast eyes throughout the service. She cried openly while residents expressed their condolences afterwards.
Police and volunteers from the community searched side by side for the girl throughout, but after the latest twist, angry community members pointed fingers at the police.
The police didn't want to say which information had led to the breakthrough.
Die polisie wou nie bekend maak watter inligting tot die deurbraak gelei het nie.
Swellendam police station commander, superintendent Patrick Lee, confirmed that a man and woman who were arrested in Mossel Bay on Friday evening, had nothing to do with the breakthrough. The 28-year-old woman and 32-year-old man apparently made five calls to the police and demanded R2m in return for information about the missing girl. The number was traced and they were arrested.
The murder suspect, as well as this man and woman, will appear in the Swellendam Magistrate's Court on Monday.
- Die Burger
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