South Africa: Man Killed Girlfriend's Son and Buried the Body in a Bucket

23 January 2026
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Anita Dangazele
  • The 32-year-old boyfriend beat the boy to death with a stick in September 2024, said police spokesperson Captain Welile Matyolo.
  • The 23-year-old mother and her boyfriend buried the body in a bucket and falsely reported the child missing to police.

A man beat his girlfriend's three-year-old son to death and buried the body in a bucket.

Police arrested the 32-year-old man and the child's 23-year-old mother in Sulenkama near Qumbu on Wednesday, 21 January, at about 7:45pm.

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Police spokesperson Captain Welile Matyolo said the boyfriend killed the boy months earlier, on 1 September 2024.

The woman told Mbizana police in 2024 that her son went missing at a fuel station in Mbizana. But police used CCTV cameras and proved she was lying.

Matyolo said the boyfriend beat the child to death with a stick in Sulenkama, where he was working.

The boy was born while the couple was already in a relationship. But the man is not the biological father.

After killing the child, the couple put him in a 20-litre bucket. They closed it tightly with wire. Then they buried it in a small grave.

The mother went to Mbizana police station and reported the child as missing.

Police investigations revealed what really happened. The couple showed police where they had buried the boy in Sulenkama.

Police dug up the grave and found the child's decomposed body still inside the bucket.

Both suspects face murder charges. The mother also faces a charge of defeating the ends of justice.

They will appear in Qumbu Magistrate's Court on Friday, 23 January.

District Commissioner Major General Norman Modishana praised the police for uncovering the truth.

Modishana said: "It is so heartbreaking and sad that a human life can be lost in such a gruesome manner."

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