Missing primary school boy found dead

In a devastating development that has thrown the people of Mabutsane village into deep sorrow, baby Clinton (7) was found dead in the bush in the wee hours of this past Tuesday.

The standard one pupil of Mabutsane Primary School disappeared on Sunday. His family only noticed that he was missing when he did not return home that evening and started searching for him in the neighbourhood but did not find him. They had all along not been worried about his whereabouts thinking that he had gone out to play with friends.

On Monday morning, villagers and the family began searching for the child but he was nowhere to be seen.

Growing restless, Clinton’s mother who identifies herself as Mmagwe Clinton Moletlo Malaule Ditshenyegelo on social media pleaded with members of the community to assist in finding the boy.

Sadly, the search for the missing boy ended tragically on Tuesday morning when his dead body was found in the bushes.

Mabutsane police station commander Superintendent Batani Lehuma said the parents reported the matter to them on Monday morning and the police began searching for the boy together with members of the community.

Their search was mainly focused in the village and surrounding homes. However, around 8pm on Monday, they got a tip-off that footprints of the boy were spotted near some farms.

“We immediately rushed there and began following the footprints but because night had already fallen, it became hard to continue following the footprints. The search team agreed to withdraw and continue the next day and that is what we did on Tuesday morning.

“Unfortunately, the boy was found lying unconscious on the ground some four kilometres away from the village. He was rushed to the hospital where he was certified dead,” Lehuma said.

Lehuma went on to dismiss claims that the boy’s body parts were missing when he was found.

“We found the boy intact with nothing suggesting that he had missing body parts. We are nonetheless still investigating the cause of the death, we did not see any other footprints apart from his when searching,” he said.

Kgosi Kgakgamatso Moletsane of Mabutsane told The Midweek Sun was among the people who searched for the boy.

“I was there when they found him, we found him clean and in one piece, there is nothing suggesting that he was murdered. I suspect that he died because of exhaustion and hunger and chances are that at the time he was found, it had not been long before he breathed his last,” he said