Convicted child killer Melvyn Volkwyn is in for a nailbiting weekend as he awaits the outcome of his leave to appeal his guilty verdict for the murder of toddler, Orderick Lucas, on Monday.
Lawyers for the defence and state went to war at the Cape High Court this week as Volkwyn lodged an application for leave to appeal his 20-year tronkstraf, claiming the state failed to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Eerste River toddler was last seen alive on 24 March 2019 but it was only four days later when his mother, Davedine, discovered he was missing.
On 2 April 2019, his body was found in a drain one street away from his ouma’s home and Volkwyn was charged with his murder.
This follows claims by Davedine that he was the last person to care for her son. Volkwyn has denied this throughout the trial, insisting he handed the child back to her.
After a lengthy trial Volkwyn was sentenced jailed to 20 years in the mang in August, with Acting Judge Nolundi Nyati labelling him as a “monster covered in candy floss”.
Now Volkwyn’s defence attorney, Advocate Susan Kuun, has poked holes in the judgement, saying the state had failed to prove their case, citing a lack of physical evidence.
In the appeal documents handed to court, Kuun says the first incorrect inference was that Volkwyn intentionally took Orderick to his home to kill him on the night Davedine was assaulted by the community for stealing a cellphone.
She says while the state pathologist listed that there was a “suspicion” of trauma to Orderick’s neck, the conclusion of the post-mortem was that the cause of death was unknown, and not strangulation.
Kuun also labelled Orderick’s mother a liegbek, saying she gave evidence in contradiction of medical reports, and was caught lying on the stand about various issues including Orderick’s broken arm and his paternity.
In response, state advocate Robin Lewis told the court that although the cause of death has not been determined, there were other factors that indicate the little boy was murdered.
Lewis also highlighted the testimony of other witnesses besides Davedine and indicated that due to the timeline given by the witnesses of when Orderick was last seen, it was improbable that Volkwyn could have given the child back to Davedine.
Judgement will be handed down in writing for the latest on Monday.