Alleged child killer Melvin Volkwyn has been accused of lying to the Western Cape High Court to tarnish the reputation of the mother of slain toddler Orderick Lucas.
Volkwyn, 42, returned to the witness stand yesterday where he continued to drop bombshells as he underwent cross-examination of his testimony.
Orderick was last seen on 24 March 2019 but it was only four days later when his mother, Davedine, discovered he was missing.
On 2 April 2019, his tiny body was discovered in a drain a street away from his ouma’s home and Volkwyn was charged with his murder.
This follows claims by his mother Davedine that Volkwyn was the last person to look after her son.
While the state has not provided any evidence on how the tot was killed, prosecutor Mornay Julius launched a scathing attack on Volkwyn, claiming he had “bullied” Orderick.
Julius accused Volkwyn of trying to blame Davedine for her child’s death and raised concerns about his claims that she was a sex worker.
“You came up with serious allegations that she sometimes left Orderick with you to go do prostitution?” Julius stated.
Volkwyn calmly told the court that Davedine often left Orderick with him when she went to have sex with a police detective who would allegedly pay her.
“She did leave him [Orderick] by me at night, then she left with a detective, the man she would always go with, and he would pay her,” Volkwyn testified.
But Julius took exception to this, saying Davedine had completed her testimony and that she was now unable to defend herself.
However, defence attorney Susan Kuun said only after the state elected to not call certain witnesses did they become available to the defence team and, as a result, new information had come to light.
“The state should know about this, it's their witnesses,” Kuun stated.
Questions around the removal of Orderick’s teeth and broken arm were also raised after Volkwyn contested Davedine’s version of the injuries.
He said she fell and rukked Orderick, resulting in his broken arm.
And on one of the nights that Orderick slept at his home, he removed a loose tooth with a piece of thread as the child was in pain and would not eat or sleep.
“I felt sorry for him and afterwards he ate,” the accused said.
However, Julius accused him of being a bully who intentionally hurt Orderick in secret while looking after him.
“That is the second incident where you bullied him and in the third incident, you murdered him,” the prosecutor charged.
Volkwyn denied this, saying Davedine should know what happened to her child.
“I am not saying she killed him, but I gave the child to her alive,” he added.
The case continues.