Cops drop kidnap charges, don’t suspect foul play in Mahikeng boys’ deaths

By Lerato Selepe

Mahikeng – The North West police have closed a case of kidnapping linked to two boys from Montshiwa in Mahikeng who were found dead in a swimming pool.

It was initially reported that Onalenna Molehabangwe and Gontse Cholo, both aged 10, were kidnapped after being lured into a Volkswagen Polo with potato chips on March 5.

They were found dead on May 7 in a swimming pool at a house in Imperial Reserve, a few kilometres away from Montshiwa.

However, Sergeant Lesedi Dingoko confirmed to The Star on Monday that preliminary investigations revealed that there was no prima facie evidence in the issue of kidnapping.

Therefore, police have closed the case of kidnapping, he said.

According to the Sowetan, the mother of one of the boys stated that the house where the boys drowned belongs to her sister and her late husband but was now being rented to foreign nationals after her sister’s in-laws kicked her out.

She was also quoted as saying her son liked going to the house to swim and she had gone there to look for him and his friend after they went missing.

“I looked around the house but I did not check the swimming pool and I don’t know why,” she said.

Speaking to The Star, Dingoko said there was no one in the house at the time that the boys were found dead.

While there were allegations that the boys were found without their private parts, Dingoko said that was not true.

He said when the boys were found, they had no injuries on them and post-mortem results revealed that the cause of death was drowning.

He said no foul play was suspected in the case and that police have opened an inquest docket for investigations and not a murder case.

It was also reported that a third child who was with the boys at the time that they were “kidnapped” had managed to escape.

However, Dingoko said as the police, they are not allowed to interview minors as a social worker would have to speak to him first.

Only after that has happened, will they be able to speak to the boy, he said.

Dingoko urged community members who suspect that there is a culprit in the centre of this and may have information on that to report the matter to the police. The Star.