An investigation into the attempted murder case relating to the mutilation of a six-year-old Blue Sky informal settlement boy has revealed important new information that could help police crack the case.

The boy, whose genitals had been removed, was found in a ditch in a mine-owned field on Trichardts Road in Cason, where he was reportedly spotted trying to crawl to safety in extreme agony on February 28.

Members of the community discovered him while pursuing two criminals who had just robbed a woman as she was walking down the road.

Immediately after the crime, Boksburg police launched an investigation, but the perpetrator has eluded investigators for almost nine months. This has left many residents, who have been calling for justice for the boy, wondering about the status of the investigation.

The Boksburg Advertiser reached out to the police to ask about the progress or whether the case had gone cold.

Boksburg SAPS station commander Colonel Matshedeso Mbele says although the investigation has not proceeded as speedily as the community had hoped, she believes investigators know exactly what they are doing and are about to crack the case.

“They made progress. While officers initially faced a few obstacles, the investigating team from the Occult Crime Unit managed to piece together the clues they had. They are positive the leads they now have will unmask the suspect,” says Mbele, who described the manhunt for the boy’s attacker as a ‘wanted dead or alive situation’.

Without revealing too much, Mbele says the team had new evidence and informers who believed they knew the identity of the suspect. This would support their leads about the person behind the attempted murder.

Mbele says it took an extraordinary effort to get to the latest twist in the case, which involved interrogating many people before they found links to the main accused, reportedly a man who allegedly lured the boy from the road with an offer to buy him sweets and took him to the secluded spot, mutilated him and left him badly injured.

Paramedics initially transported the boy to Tambo Memorial Hospital for treatment before they transferred him to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

Mbele says the boy was discharged from hospital and is receiving periodic checkups and treatment and recovering well.

He is now accommodated at a place of safety arranged by the Department of Social Development social workers.

Efforts to get a comment from the parents proved unsuccessful at the time of publishing.

Residents pointed out that the boy doesn’t have a birth certificate and is not attending school. They said social workers, before the attack, started a process to assist the struggling boy and his family. Police confirmed that social workers are attending to these issues.

Some residents told the Boksburg Advertiser they were living in fear because of what happened to the boy.

“We could not believe it when we received the sad news that they found him in the veld with his private parts removed. His genital area was bleeding and badly swollen.

“We are all afraid because the people who did this are still walking free,” says resident Martha Naude.