By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court in Johannesburg continues to hear the bail application for Tiffany Meek – the 31-year-old woman accused of the murder of her son Jayden-Lee Meek.
Meek has been in custody for more than two weeks since her arrest.
She has denied killing her 11-year-old son, who was found unresponsive at their Fleurhof home in May.
Jayden-Lee was dropped off by his school transport on the day he went missing but never made it home. His body was found the following day by a resident in the complex.
During the proceedings, her lawyer continued with his cross-examination of the investigating officer (IO).
The location of the boy’s body and events leading up to his death became the focus of defence lawyer Novel Naidoo’s questions.
A postmortem report revealed the 11-year-old boy died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Naidoo asked if a murder weapon was found and if any of the neighbours had reported hearing the boy scream the day he was allegedly killed.
The IO said the murder might have happened in silence: “If you push a person hard against the wall, and the person comes down on their face and passes on or dies right there and then, you will not hear a voice from that person.”
Asked if there was any blood found on the walls of the two-bedroom flat Meek shared with his mother, the officer said he was waiting for the report from the UV light tests.
Naidoo asked the IO about the bloodstained pillow seized as evidence, after a sniffer dog allegedly detected the scent of blood.
According to Naidoo, the accused told him the blood on the pillow was due to Jayden-Lee’s regular nose bleeds.
The IO said he had only seen the picture in photographs, and that it had been taken and booked as evidence by the dog handler.
The IO has opposed the accused’s release on bail, citing public outcry and concerns for her safety.
However, her lawyer has suggested the public outcry is manufactured.
The Fleurhof community held several demonstrations, before and after Meek’s arrest, where they accused the police of dragging their feet in the investigation and also demanded justice for the young boy.
Naidoo put it to the IO that demonstrations outside the court only happened after the court asked for a petition.
“Like today, there’s probably 50 to 100, maybe 1,000 people outside. But, they only started coming in their numbers when the court asked. Can you see how public outcry is influenced by social media activists?”
Meek, who occasionally becomes emotional when details of the alleged murder are discussed, has told the court she will abide by the conditions, should she be granted bail.
The matter was postponed to Monday for closing arguments and a possible bail decision.