Cape Town - A 17-year-old has been arrested for allegedly beheading 15-year-old Lee Heinrich Adams from Ravensmead as part of a suspected satanic ritual – Lee’s head was found buried in the boy’s front garden on Saturday night.
The body was found lying in the corner of one of the classrooms of the derelict Florida Primary School building about 120m from Lee’s aunt’s home, where he lived.
His head was discovered two days later buried at the 17-year-old boy’s home, about 1.5km from the school.
Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said: “The beheaded body was discovered at Third Avenue in Ravensmead on Thursday night at around 10.15pm.”
Traut added that, after a thorough investigation, the 17-year-old had been arrested. “A search at the residence of the suspect led to the discovery of the head buried in the front garden on Saturday night.”
He said the police suspect it was part of a satanic ritual.
“Paraphernalia suggesting that Satanism is a possible motive was found at the residence of the suspect.”
Those who claimed to have witnessed the head being removed from the front garden by the police said they also saw two headless cats at the crime scene, but the police have not confirmed this.
When the Cape Argus visited the abandoned primary school to view the site where the body was found, blood was spattered on the walls of one of the old classrooms.
Lee’s mother
Gaynor Adams said the last time she saw her son was Thursday night when she had sent him to the ATM to withdraw money. “He never came back,” she said.
“The next day I hear from someone in the street that a body was found at the school and she identified him as a boy from the same street we live in – not knowing I was his mother.”
After Lee went missing on Thursday, Adams went to report the matter to the police and on Saturday afternoon it was discovered that the headless body was dressed in the same clothes Lee had last been seen in.
“I knew it was him, it was my son. I can’t even describe what was going through my head, shock, pain – he was my eldest son,” she said.
His aunt Anne van Schalkwyk, whose house is across from the school, said: “I saw people at the school with dogs and torches, but I didn’t know it was him until I got a call from the police and heard my sister crying in the background.”
Community Police Forum spokeswoman Zelda Tarentaal said, “We have never had something like this happen before and we have never had satanic things in this area.
”This building is a breeding ground for crime, for the past 10 years we have been asking for it to be removed,” said Tarentaal.
A resident and relative of the deceased, Pastor Errol Abrahams, agreed that the building had become a crime den.
“Gangs do their recruitment there and people are being raped there. The 24-hour security is not helpful because at night it’s very dark there and there is no fencing around it,” he said.
Cosatu regional secretary Tony Ehrenreich, who visited the Adams family, said: “Whether this is satanic or dysfunctional, children are losing track of social values. ”
Ehrenreich said if the building was not demolished by the weekend Cosatu and Ravensmead residents would tear it down.
Lee’s family said they couldn’t explain why he had fallen victim to such a gruesome crime.
“He was a good boy who loved his music, he loved joking around,” said Van Schalkwyk.
The suspect is due in court on Monday.
Recent satanist killings
* Two friends were assaulted, doused with petrol and set alight in an alleged satanic ritual on a hill in Joburg in October 2011.
Kirsty Theologo, 18, later died in hospital. Her friend, who was 14 at the time, survived.
Linden Wagner, Harvey Isha, Robin Harwood, and Courtney Daniels are on trial for murdering Theologo, attempting to murder her friend, and for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. All have pleaded not guilty.
Wagner told the court they had a knife, a Bible and candles for the ritual. Theologo and her friend were made to drink alcohol laced with brake fluid.
Wagner told the court he and the co-accused had been prepared to sell their souls on that day.
Two other accused, Jeremy King and Lester Moody, confessed to the crime and were each sentenced to 17 years in prison, five of which were suspended.
* In another case this year, also in Joburg, a 15-year-old girl appeared in court in connection with stabbing a fellow pupil to death as part of an alleged satanic ritual
The teenager confessed to stabbing Keamogetswe Sefularo so she could move up the ranks of a satanic cult.
She said Sefularo had posed a threat to the cult because she knew its members and their practices.
The girl told the court the rituals included visiting graveyards and members cutting themselves and sucking each other’s blood.
Cape Argus