Durban - It was an emotional day for the Louw family when they planted two trees in memory of 9-year-old Miguel at Rippon Primary School in Sydenham on Tuesday.
The family will place a plaque in his memory at the church where his ashes are kept.
The plaque reads: “In memory of our Angel Miguel Louw. Gone yet not forgotten. Although we are apart your spirit lives within me, forever in my heart.”
The two trees planted were a white rose and a Tetradenia riparia iboza.
According to the label on the iboza, it produces a spectacular display in winter when not much else is in
flower.
Close family gathered in the school garden where a prayer was said before the tree-planting took place.
Raylene Louw said it was an emotional day and she wished her son was alive.
She said the trees would be a remembrance of Miguel, who had loved playing in the garden at home.
Miguel went missing on July 17, 2018, from Sydenham.
He was believed to have been kidnapped shortly after leaving Rippon Primary School.
Three days later, a close friend of the family, Mohammed Ebrahim Vahed, was arrested.
Vahed was seen with Miguel at the KFC outlet on Dr RD Naidu Drive next to the Louw home.
Police later found the decomposed body of Miguel in thick bushes beside Longbury Drive in Phoenix, in the vicinity of Vahed’s home.
Vahed is on trial for the kidnapping and murder, and has maintained his innocence since his arrest.
His next appearance will be in the Durban High Court next month.