Cape Town - The body of one-year-old Orderick Lucas was found in a drain in Eersteriver on Tuesday afternoon.
The drain is around the corner from his grandmother's house.
Five children who were playing in Witterbol Street discovered the body after they lifted the drain cover to retrieve their ball.
Orderick went missing on March 24, but was only reported missing by his mother four days later.
His mother, Davideen Lucas, 28, told officers at Kleinvlei SAPS she had left her son with a friend as she had to go to the hospital on Monday, but the male friend claimed he had given the boy back to her.
On Saturday, 30 March, police arrested Davideen and her mother, Cornelia Scheepers, 50, on charges of contravention of a court order, child abandonment and child neglect.
However, the charges against them were provisionally withdrawn in the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court.
According to a court order, Davideen is not allowed near her children, Orderick and her five-year-old twins, after social workers noticed signs of abuse.
It is alleged Orderick’s arm was broken after his mother fell with him on her back while she was high on drugs.
The child was also burned with a tik lolly and bite marks were found on his tiny body.
He spent two months in hospital.
Scheepers told the Daily Voice on Tuesday night that officers at the scene confirmed that the body found in the stormwater drain was her grandson’s.
However, police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Andrè Traut would only confirm that the body of a child was found and that a case of murder has been registered.