Cape Town - Community members in Ocean View believe they have uncovered the secret lair of the man accused of raping and killing 14-year-old Camron Britz, who predicted her own death.
The Daily Voice can reveal that the man arrested for the crimes is the girl’s own cousin.
The bunker was discovered in a bush along Slangkop Street, a few metres from where Camron’s body was found on Sunday just after noon.
The hole in the ground was covered with shrubs and branches and wooden planks.
Inside was a plastic chair, pieces of wooden board, the shell of a computer and car parts.
A few metres away, residents point out a trench where they believe Camron’s killer was going to bury her.
The suspect handed himself over to Ocean View police on Sunday and was to appear in the Simon’s Town Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
However, he did not appear due to outstanding DNA results.
According to Camron’s sister, Roshney Britz, 20, community members had allegedly found the suspect hiding in the bunker, watching the crime scene from a distance.
When about 30 people approached him, he ran and handed himself over to police.
“The ladies went to the bush and found a shack he had built. He made a hole; so if we weren’t going to find Camron’s body, he was going to bury her by himself, then we would never have found her,” says Roshney.
“The ladies also took him out of the shack on Sunday.”
Ocean View SAPS station commander Lieutenant-Colonel ES Merkeur confirms police are aware of the bunker.
“She was not going to be buried inside the shack. Traces of blood were found in the shack and the pathologist requested the police to dig up all the blood,” he says.
Before her death, Camron Britz had had a nightmare of being gang-raped and killed, and wrote several poems and letters about it. Picture: Supplied
On Tuesday, Roshney, her mother Berenice Britz, 41, aunty Allison Afrikaner, 42, and cousin Saadiqah Hendrickse, 42, were at court in the hopes of confronting the suspect themselves.
But they were left disappointed when court officials informed them that the matter could not be heard as laboratory tests for DNA taken from the suspect and Camron had not been completed.
“The police have told us he has not been charged yet and that DNA was taken from him and her and then only will they be charging him,” explains Saadiqah.
“We want to know why he was not charged when he handed himself over to police, what are they waiting for?”
“If he is going to be released, the police must know that Camron’s father will kill him. He is broken by her death.”
Camron’s half-naked mutilated body was found in bushes on Slangkop Road. Picture: Leon Knipe
Berenice reveals that a neighbour who lives near the bush believes she heard Camron’s final cries for help: “The woman was putting the television off when she heard a girl screaming: ‘Mommy, help me’ and that was around 11pm.
“She said after that the screaming stopped.”
The teen was in Grade 8 at Ocean View High School.
Before her death, she had had a nightmare of being gang-raped and killed, and wrote several poems and letters about it.
The suspect is back in court on Wednesday.