Spurned lover slays girlfriend's son

A DEJECTED boyfriend who could not stand the thought of his girlfriend leaving him allegedly kidnapped and murdered her son (aged 6)

Little Rehauhetswe Ramotheki, 6, of Braamfischer in Soweto, was allegedly kidnapped by his mother's jealous ex-boyfriend at Emelang Lower Primary School in Meadowlands on Tuesday. His body was found in a ditch in Florida on Thursday.

Rehauhetswe's grieving mother Victoria Ramotheki, 22, who has another child, said she had no idea how the man walked away with the child from school.

"People have been telling lies saying I introduced him to the school teachers as the child's father, but that is not true. I didn't even want their fathers anywhere near my children because they didn't help me raise them. The only person who helped me with them is my mother Yvonne," Ramotheki said.

Victoria said her decision to dump her boyfriend could have led to her eldest son's death.

"In January this year, I told him that I no longer loved him and I wanted out of the relationship, but he said he would not allow it. I told him that I was a changed person and I didn't want a relationship anymore. He then threatened to kill me," Ramotheki said.

Soon afterwards, she moved out of the shack they shared in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, and moved in with her 45-year-old mother in Soweto. "He never threatened the child's life but I knew he was not happy that I had left him," she said.

The family yesterday gathered at the Roodepoort police station to identify the child at the mortuary. Soon after identifying her son, the young mother broke down and collapsed. She had to be carried to the car.

"My grandson must have suffered a lot. Some of his front teeth were missing and he had bruises all over his body," Yvonne, the boy's grandmother, said.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Karen Jacobs said the man will appear in court today. "He will appear at the Roodepoort magistrate's court on charges of kidnapping and murder," Jacobs said.