Human bones found near the resort town of Umdloti following the heavy waves that hit the KwaZulu-Natal coast recently are in Pretoria for forensic testing, police said on Thursday.
Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said police could only confirm that the bones found were human. He said an initial inspection of the bones appeared to indicate that they were of an adult female and a child of unknown sex.
The bones were found on March 21 protruding from the sand at the northern beach of Umhloti, two days after heavy surf had pounded the KwaZulu-Natal coastline. They were retrieved and taken to a Durban mortuary.
Speculation among locals and some media reports have said the bones may be those of young girls who disappeared about 18 years ago, allegedly kidnapped by notorious couple Gert van Rooyen and his lover, Joey Haarhoff. The bones were found near a holiday house where Van Rooyen is believed to have stayed.
However, Mdunge said: ”Everything is dependent on the outcome of the forensic report.”
Pieter Boshoff, a spokesperson for the website Missingchildren.co.za, said he had been told by ”sources” that there were suspicions that the bones ”might possibly” be those belonging to a victim of Van Rooyen’s.
The Citizen newspaper reported that a relative of one of the girls was contacted by Umhloti police. It quoted Captain Raymond Boucher, whose 11-year-old niece was among the five girls alleged to have been kidnapped, raped and murdered by Van Rooyen and Haarhoff, as saying he had been contacted.
The couple died on January 15 1990 in Capitol Park after being followed by police and after their last victim, a 16-year-old girl, managed to escape. Van Rooyen shot himself in his car and it was believed that he had first shot Haarhoff, although a court could not determine this beyond reasonable doubt.
The 16-year-old girl had allegedly been and drugged and sexually assaulted.
The five girls who disappeared between 1988 and 1990 are Joan Horn (13), Odette Boucher (11), Anne-Marie Wapenaar (12), Yolande Wessels (12) and Fiona Harvey (12). — Sapa