Johannesburg - Nathaniel “Chicken” Mpoku has been found guilty of kidnapping and murdering Reiger Park toddler Cuburne van Wyk.
“You are found guilty and convicted of the crimes of kidnapping and murder as charged,” Judge George Maluleke said during his judgment in the High Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Thursday.
Three-year-old Cuburne disappeared from a football field in Ramaphosa informal settlement on August 6 last year.
He allegedly asked Mpoku for a biscuit and then followed him.
Three days later, his partially burnt body was found on an abandoned mine dump near Reiger Park.
“The accused’s version is full of inherent improbabilities and blatant untruths and for this reason is rejected as false and untruthful,” Maluleke said.
Mpoku was linked to the crime by strong direct, circumstantial evidence and inferential reasoning, the judge said.
Mpoku sat hunched over in the dock during proceedings.
After judgment was handed down, he quickly consulted with his lawyer before being led back into the holding cells.
Cuburne’s parents asked the media to give them some time to let the news sink in before they would give interviews.
The Star