‘Orphaned’ teen had Roodepoort police fooled – but it was all a lie

The child apparently has parents, but ran away from home for personal reasons.

Roodepoort Police Sector 1 manager, Sergeant Innocentia Moeketsi and Jason van Wyk, the teenager who lied about the death of his parents. Photo: Siso Naile.

Eighteen-year-old ‘orphan’ Jason van Wyk has turned out to be a parented child who apparently ran away from home for personal reasons, Roodepoort Record reports.

Roodepoort Police Station initially sought help from the public to trace extended family members of Jason, who had claimed that both his parents had died in separate incidents in April.

Read the initial article here.

When the initial article was published online, a number of residents, who had apparently been associated with the boy or his family, came forward to dismiss his allegations and shared various stories about how they knew the boy.

Roodepoort Police Sector 1 manager, Sergeant Innocentia Moeketsi, who is handling the matter, clarified the confusion to the Record. Firstly, she confirmed that the boy had misled them about the death of his parents.

“We found the family of the boy. He had lied because of what he is going through and his background,” said Innocentia.

Allegations of abuse were hinted at by Innocentia, who said the station would be organising an intervention by social workers, who would interview the parents, as well as the neighbours, before deciding whether to reunite him with his family.

“In spite of what has been said about him, we need to help the boy. We cannot mistreat him and send him back home. What if something happens to him?” she asked.

“He said he was happy where he is kept,” Innocentia indicated. She added that the boy would continue to be kept at the place of safety and receive the help and counselling that he needed until the matter was resolved.

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