The decomposed body of a man suspected of robbery was discovered in a bush in Cornubia, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday afternoon by his father, nearly a month after the man went missing.
The father alerted Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) after locating the body. Reaction officers were led into dense bushland where the severely decomposed remains were found.
According to the father, his son had a reputation for targeting pedestrians along the R102 between Mt. Edgecombe and Phoenix. On the day of his disappearance, the suspect was allegedly involved in a robbery. The victim of that incident is believed to have returned later with a group of men to confront the suspects.
During the confrontation, one of the men reportedly fired shots at the fleeing robbers. While the deceased managed to escape into the bush, his accomplice was captured, taken to Cottonlands, and assaulted before being released.
The deceased’s family had been searching for him since his disappearance and suspect he may have been shot while fleeing the scene. However, the exact cause of death has not been confirmed, and investigations are ongoing.