UPDATE: Missing child – 24 hours and counting

It has now been more than 24 hours since 12-year-old Marcel Blandin de Chalain was last seen, after he went missing from his home in Newcastle, KZN.

The urgency of the community has not faltered, as comments are still streaming in thick and fast. His mother has now made a plan to borrow some money, and will be travelling through to Ladysmith and then Harrismith, in a desperate attempt to locate her son.

A journalist from the Newcastle Advertiser travelled to the area in Elandslaagte, where the suspect and Marcel were last seen at a business alongside the N11.

Robin Byroo, a self-employed businessman, looked Johan de Beer in the eye, not realising he was staring into the soul of a man alleged to have kidnapped a child only hours before.

“He was very jumpy; kept on looking around,” claimed Mr Byroo. “He stopped by my gate at around 8 or 8.30pm. He hooted to alert us he was there, so I went out and spoke with him.”

According to Mr Byroo and his son Adhip, the suspect they identified as Johan de Beer from a photograph shown to them later, seemed agitated, nervous and in a big hurry.

“He asked me for some diesel so he could make it to Ladysmith, where his wife was meeting up with him. Thereafter they were going to travel together to Harrismith,” claimed My Byroo. “He said to me, ‘Look, my son is in the bakkie, I have to take him to see his mother’.”

After Mr Byroo refused to give the suspect money, he offered to drive him to Ladysmith to get diesel. Mr de Beer reportedly confessed to having no money, to which Mr Byroo responded he should then rather go to the police station, as they would help him there.

“He said he would go to the station, but after that he went across the road and hooted there too. He was still hooting when I returned inside the house probably 25 minutes later,” concluded Mr Byroo.

Mr Byroo feels his gut instinct had led him to believe something was very wrong with the encounter, and was utterly shocked to find out this morning that he had been correct.

“The child who was sitting in the bakkie looked calm and seemed okay; he wasn’t panicking,” he said.

Mr Byroo and his son further confirmed detailed characteristics of the vehicle, such as the distinctive number plate.

Adding to this, sources confirmed the suspect has a criminal record for theft offences – something which his father, Hans de Beer, recognises as the reason his son does not reside with him anymore.

“He would always call me and say everything is going fine. Then afterwards I hear all these stories. Now this… This thing with this poor child. That child needs to be returned to his parents,’ said Mr de Beer.

Captain Flip Claassen, of the Newcastle SAPS, confirmed he had contacted every possible agency and station to notify as many people as possible of Marcel’s plight.

“For now we have done all we can at this stage,” said Captain Claassen. “Unfortunately, we must wait now. We are determined to find this child, and we will.”

UPDATE: Missing child – Police confirm no vehicle found

UPDATE: Missing Child – Police detectives on the hunt

UPDATE: Missing child – Hunt for missing child intensifies

Missing child – intensive manhunt launched