In a case that is eerily similar to that of the late Tazne Van Wyk, another parolee has been arrested in connection with the brutal murder of a child. The body of eight-year-old Reagan Gertse was discovered along the bushes lining a riverbank in the unassuming town of Tulbagh on the weekend.
According to South African Police Services’ (SAPS) Brigadier Novela Potelwa, more charges may be added as the investigation unfolds. Eric Ntabazalila, the spokesman for the regional National Prosecuting Authority, the suspect has been charged with murder.
The young boy was reported missing on the morning of Sunday, March 1, he was found shortly after the community launched a search for him.
Jacobus Pistoors has been on parole for the past three to four months. He was granted parole while serving a 12-year sentence for the brutal rape of a five-year-old boy.
Little Reagan was last seen on Saturday, February 29, when he was seen walking with the 53-year-old suspect. It is alleged that he lived three doors down from Reagan, and lived with the young boy’s grandparents according to DispatchLIVE.
Reagan is also one of at least five children who have been murdered in the Western Cape in the past week. “We simply cannot be burying children at this rate,” said Cape Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez. “We are losing more children, and most of these perpetrators are known to families and communities.”
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