A teenage boy allegedly lured his six-year-old neighbour to a river before strangling him to death with a belt.
The usually quiet farming village of of Bonnievale has been rocked to the core by the murder.
Little Franklin Prins was last seen playing with the teen suspect before disappearing on Friday.
The teenager is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday at the Bonnievale Magistrates’ Court on a charge of murder.
Franklin’s naked body was fished out of a river on a farm where naartjies grow 13 hours after he went missing.
The car tyre he had been pushing is still in the river.
The victim’s sister Zyboon Prins, 20, says Franklin left her home with the 16-year-old boy who was arrested the same day.
“Franklin didn’t go to school on Friday so he was playing outside in his pyjamas when the suspect showed up,” she tells the Daily Voice.
“They were pushing the wheel and at about 12pm the suspect told me he was taking my brother to another farm that is still in La Rochelle, so I let them go.”
The two were gone for more than five hours when Franklin’s mom Fransiena Prins, 40, became worried.
“When I got home, I noticed my son was not here,” the mom says.
“I went to look for him.
“And I when I asked the suspect where my son was, he lied and said he didn’t know where he was.”
The suspect tried to run away after he was repeatedly questioned by the victim’s distraught mom, but she tackled him to the ground to stop him from escaping.
Local community members came to help the family and a search party was launched for the missing boy.
At about 10pm, Fransiena decided to call the police.
While waiting on the cops, Zyboon decided to interrogate the suspect who confessed to taking Franklin to the river.
“He said he left the child by the river by a boat at the river,” explains Zyboon.
“When the police asked where the child was, he confessed and said he hurt the child.”
Just before midnight, the Prins family was called out to the murder scene where little Franklin lay with a belt around his neck.
“When he left the house, he was wearing pyjamas but when he was found, he was naked with a leather belt that was tied with a wire,” says Zyboon.
Fransiena says the suspect walked for more than a kilometre to her youngest son.
“I don’t understand how a teenager could want to play with a six-year-old boy,” Fransiena says.
“I never thought he would murder my son.”
The suspect’s 49-year-old mother, who cannot be named, says she felt like killing herself when she heard what her son had done.
“The pain is unbearable but he will always be my son and I love him,” she says.
The suspect’s 46-year-old stepfather showed the Daily Voice the bunch of flowers he plans to give to the victim’s family.
“We have talked to them and they are not angry at us,” the dad tells the Daily Voice.
“I don’t know why he would commit such a gruesome crime.”
Police spokesman, Warrant Officer November Filander confirms the teen was arrested for the murder after the body of the six-year-old was found in the river.
*This article was published in the Daily Voice