R1-20/FREE
10 January 2014
Human remains found on a plot near Settlers ‘I was walking outside and noticed that my dogs were tugging on something at a bush nearby I then walked over and saw a human skull sticking out of the ground,...’ Justin Steyn A rather disturbing discovery of human skeletal remains was made by a plot resident near Settlers. Jackie Van der Linde told The BEAT that she was walking outside her house on Friday, 20 December when she noticed that her dogs were attracted to an object and decided to investigate. “I was walking outside and noticed that my dogs were tugging on something at a bush nearby I then walked over and saw a human skull sticking out of the ground,” she said. After carefully poking the skull out of the ground, Van der Linde said she took it to the Bela-Bela police station. The police’s forensic and K9 dog unit were dispatched to Van der Linde’s home where an investigation was conducted. Sniffing dogs from the K9 unit discovered the rest of the fully clothed remains a few minutes later. Van der Linde said that although the clothing found would most likely belong to a man she believes that the remains where that of a young woman in her twenties. “If you look at the rest of the remains you will see things like the person’s hands were too frail and well-kept to belong to a
man” she said. She also suggested that remains belong to an execution victim because their hands were positioned as if they were bound together. Van der Linde also noted a rather large hole on the chest side of the victim’s jacket where a bullet could have penetrated. The remains have been sent to a forensic analyst in Polokwane and the skull will undergo facial reconstruction in an attempt to identify the victim. It has been determined that the body had been lying in the area for approximately three months and was that of a young male between the age of 25 and 30 years. No fingerprints of the body could be taken to identify the person and police have placed the victim under missing persons. Bela-Bela police warrant Officer Janie Venter dismissed the claim of the victim being shot and said that a final report concerning the identity of the person will be concluded within a month or two. Any person with additional information may contact W/o
Jannie Venter on 082 372 9853.
The human skull found supposedly belonging to a murder victim. Photo: Supplied