Johannesburg - Police have identified the burnt body that was found in Thabo Besters cell at Mangaung correctional centre.
The identity of the deceased man was discovered through a DNA test match with the deceased mother. The man has been identified as Katlego Mpholo who had been missing for over a year according to his family who had last seen him in the beginning of March last year.
Mpholo's shattered father, Mpho Mpholo spoke to Newzroom Afrika’s Linda Mnisi and said the family was extremely heartbroken by the news which they received on Friday from police.
Mpho Mpholo said: “We never thought that wherever he is that he is no more, we had hoped that we would see him alive, vibrant as he was but after receiving the news on Friday and Saturday... I couldn't sleep”.
Mpholo, who has been described as a social person who would post his every move was declared missing in April last year when a missing persons report was filed by his family.
The family first suspected that something was wrong when Mpholo was no longer visible on social media. Mpholo’s grandmother whom he lived with also revealed that she had not seen him for a little over a month and no one else seemed to know of his whereabouts.
Mpholo’s father has rubbished the allegations that Mpholo collapsed in town and was rushed to the hospital, where he then died and was taken to a government mortuary, where the body was not claimed by anyone.
“We want answers. We are not happy about how our son died,” he said.
“My own analysis of this, it looks like they kidnapped my son long ago, they killed him and kept him for a long time until the body decomposed so certain signs on the body can disappear then they burnt him.This seems like a mastermind plan that was done long before we heard the news,” said Mpho.
An autopsy report which was done on the charred body had shown that Mpholo died due to blunt force trauma to the head and was already dead before the prison caught fire.
The Mpholo family has rejected the reports received from the police and are demanding to know the circumstances around their son’s death and how his body arrived at the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
“The family will be going to identify the body on Monday and we will also demand answers from the police about what happened to our son,” Mpho added.
IOL