Cape Town — The suspect in the murder of Deveney Nel made his first appearance in the Caledon Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The suspect, a 17-year-old boy, was arrested on Friday evening by members of the Serious Violent Crimes (SVC) unit and was charged with Nel’s murder. Nel, who was reported missing by her mother two weeks ago, was found dead inside a storeroom with stab wounds, following a sports day at her school, Overberg High School
According to The Citizen, the suspect was allegedly part of the search party that scoured the grounds in search of Nel following her disappearance.
Provincial police spokesperson, Thembisile Patekile, said police would spare no resources in getting to the perpetrators of the crime.
The boy is believed to have been at the same school as Nel. Media were unable to enter the courtroom as the suspect was underage, and therefore he could not be named, News24 reported.
One student, Ronnie Rossouw, said the news came as a shock to everyone and said an incident like this shouldn’t happen at all but the community came together to find him. He added that he knew the suspect and was surprised he was capable of something like this.
“I knew him from school, the dude was a normal guy, he didn’t seem suspicious at all. I’ve known him for a long time and it shocked me, it shocked everybody,” he said.
The case was postponed to 18 September and he was taken to a place of safety for minors following his court appearance.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
