Melvin Volkwyn has been found guilty of the murder or toddler Orderick Lucas.
Acting Justice N B Nyati found Volkwyn to have had an “unhealthy obsession” with Orderick.
Judge Nyati said she was satisfied Volkwyn was the last to be seen with the child and that he “killed baby Orderick. I therefore find you guilty of murder”.
Upon hearing the guilty verdict, Volkwyn broke down in the dock, shaking his head in disbelief at the judge’s verdict.
Volkwyn, a hairstylist, had maintained his innocence, saying he had handed Orderick over to his mother the morning after she was assaulted and sought medical attention. He, however, admitted to making a “wrong decision” by taking the child to a drug house to buy a mandrax tablet, the day before the toddler’s disappearance.
Orderick’s maggot-infested body was found eight days after his disappearance following extensive community searches in a stormwater drain in Wittebol Street, Eerste River - metres from his grandparents home.
Orderick had been placed in the foster care of his maternal grandparents after a social worker’s investigation into the safety of the children. Orderick had a broken arm which the mother could not give a satisfactory answer for, had sores around his mouth, and suffered because of Lucas’s drug abuse.
During the trial, the grandmother, Cornelia Scheepers said, she “blames herself” for going against a court order, and placing her grandchildren back in the care of their “irresponsible” mother.
The State said the cause of death was unknown.
IOL