Durban - The search for missing 10-year-old Sydenham schoolboy Miguel Louw by residents continues night after night.
“We are following up another lead tonight,” said Domenic King of the local Combined Community Watch, shortly before The Independent on Saturday went to press.
Previous searches have seen the group follow leads up the N2, to the area of the King Shaka International Airport toll gate and as far as Ballito.
“Someone who said he worked for a courier company called to say they had seen a little boy there at 5am in a red shirt and khaki shorts. It would have been impossible because it’s still dark then but we still went out.”
Another lead took them to a spot where people sleep in a parking lot in the area of the Butterworth Hotel.
“We walked around, showing a picture of Miguel, asking if people had seen him.”
King said the community had been inundated with calls from as far as Johannesburg, since the alert about Miguel having gone missing went viral on social media.
He has been missing for 11 days. His mother, Raylene Louw, said Miguel left for school with his 13-year-old sister on Tuesday, July 17, but did not return home after school.
Yesterday, Miguel’s schoolmates turned out in force outside Rippon Road Primary School in Sydenham, with placards demanding his return.
King said he understood that a 43-year-old man who had been arrested on Friday last week and has appeared in court had been in protective custody at Westville Prison after death threats from fellow inmates. However, by the time of going to press police were unable to confirm this.
He has vehemently denied he had anything to do with the boy’s disappearance.
Miguel’s grandmother, Arlene, said the man had briefly been a work colleague of Raylene’s.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Thembeka Mbhele yesterday urged anyone who knew of Miguel’s whereabouts to call 083 979 7422 or 031 203 2707, or Crime Stop on 0860 010111.