A basketball coach from Hout Bay has been found guilty in the Western Cape High Court of the rape, kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Sibusiso Dakuse.
More than three years after the murder, Marvin Minnaar returned to court this week where he has been convicted on all counts related to the schoolboy’s death.
The Grade 7 pupil from Sentinel Primary School was last seen by his ouma at their home in Imizamo Yethu on February 26, 2020.
It is believed that Minnaar was the last person seen with the boy as his family searched for him before they filed a missing person’s report. Two days after his disappearance, Sibusiso’s body was found by Hout Bay cops in a bush near Manchester Street.
Minnaar pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape and murder.
During the trial, shocking footage captured by the SAPS provincial Crime Scene Investigation Unit revealed that the young boy’s clothes were found strewn among the thick reeds where his naked body was discovered.
A State witness said that Minnaar was absent from sports practice on the day Sibusiso disappeared, and that the coach had even joined the community to search for the child out of concern.
During the trial, pathologist Bronwyn Inglis said the cause of death was ligature strangulation.
In her post-mortem report, she listed more than 20 abrasions across Sibusiso’s body, which she explained could have been caused during a struggle on the dry reeds and twigs found at the scene.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila confirmed the conviction, adding: “Marvin Minnaar has been convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder.
“His case has been postponed for probation officer and clinical psychologist pre-sentencing reports to 13 November.”
Sibusiso’s family have declined to comment on the conviction.