The State still has no idea how slain toddler Orderick Lucas died.
A special investigation into the possible cause of death has provided no conclusive answers as experts say his tiny body was at an advanced stage of decomposition.
This was revealed at the Western Cape High Court on Monday as pathologist Dr. Daphne Anthony took the stand to explain the lengths they went to to establish the cause of death.
Horrific photographs included in the post-mortem report show that the little boy’s body was bloated and his face covered in maggots when he was found in a drain 10 days after he had disappeared.
Anthony said while they suspect the tot had been murdered, they could not state the exact cause of death as the body was too badly decomposed at the time of discovery.
Orderick was last seen on 24 March 2019 when he was allegedly left in the care of his mother’s friend, , murder accused Melvin Volkwyn.
The court has heard that the little boy was only discovered missing four days later when his mother Davedine Lucas went to her mom’s house.
According to Davedine, she had left her son with Volkwyn, while the accused claims he had given the child back to his mom.
The hairdresser from Eerste River has been charged with murder after Orderick’s body was found by kids looking for their ball on 2 April 2019.
Anthony said during the post-mortem examination, they found no obvious injuries on the child’s body.
She explained there were no bone fractures, no head injuries, no internal injuries and there was no proof of defensive wounds.
She said two darkened areas were found on Orderick’s neck and rectum and special tests were done to ascertain if the discolouration was caused by injuries.
“We took tissue from that (areas) for special investigations. The discolouration of the skin was due to decomposition and you might interpret it as an injury anti-mortem [before death] and so the special investigations help us to compare the two.
“The suspicion of trauma to the neck is highly likely but the advanced decomposition along with all the special investigations cannot with absolute certainty confirm that there was trauma to the neck.
“That is the reason that these findings need to be evaluated with all the other findings. The cause of death is undetermined.”
Defense attorney, Susan Kuun, again highlighted the long list of illnesses suffered by Orderick before his death and questioned if the child could have died as a result of septicaemia caused by the septic sores on his body. But Anthony says these would’ve had to have been “very severe” to result in death.
Meanwhile, grandmother Cornelia Scheepers, 51, seemingly absolved Volkwyn from accusations that he pulled Orderick’s teeth with pliers three months before he died.
This was claimed by the boy’s parents. But when asked how she could allow Volkwyn into her home to do her hair, Cornelia said: “Davedine told me that it wasn’t him who did it.”
She returns to the stand today.