Human remains found in the veld

A gruesome discovery of human remains was made in the bush at Mining Timber near Low’s Creek last Thursday.

The local SAPS have opened an inquest docket and are now appealing to the community to report any missing people.

Const Khethiwe Themba, Low’s Creek SAPS spokesman, said the condition of the bones indicate they had been lying in the veld for more than a year.

“Our pathologist’s analysis indicated that the bones have been there for a long time and are of human origin, even though there were no signs of human flesh on it. The area in which the remains were found had been damaged by a veld fire. The resulting heat also appeared to have caused the skull to crack,” said Themba.

She said police were going through all the missing persons’ files to find leads.

“We are appealing to the community to assist in finding the deceased’s relatives by coming forward to report any missing family members or friends. Because of the advanced decomposition of the bones, we have to run a series of DNA tests to determine the identity but it will be challenging as there is not much to go on,” said Themba.

Police are yet to identify the victim’s gender, age, race and the cause of death. The remains were taken to the forensic unit for further investigation and an inquest docket was opened.

The discovery of the bones follow nearly a month after a Mozambique national, Francisco Joa Coppa (37) was reported missing.

Coppa, a livestock farmer of Honeybird in the Low’s Creek area, went missing on

July 27 and was last seen wearing blue jeans, a blue T-shirt and black jacket.

The investigating officer in both cases is Det Const Delisile Mamba. He can be contacted on 079-262-6832 or

013-710-0299.