Community demands justice as mother is charged with the murder of Jayden-Lee Meek

The family's refusal to let the police into the house following a missing person's report should have sent alarm bells that a close family member could be involved in the gruesome murder of Jayden-Lee Meek, 11.

These are the words of ActionSA MP, Dereleen James, who joined the Deputy Minister of Police Dr Polly Boshielo, Deputy Police Commissioner Tebello Mosikili, and scores of community members outside the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Tiffany Nicole Meek, the 31-year-old mother of Jayden-Lee, appeared in the Roodepoort Magistrate's Court on charges of murder, crimen injuria, and defeating the ends of justice following her arrest on Friday.

"When they asked the mother if they could go inside the house, and the mother said no, the police could have rescued the 11-year-old boy. I will not stand here today and be grateful that the police have done their job. We will not apologise. Had we not marched to Parliament and brought the matter to the highest office, would we have seen a speedy arrest?" she asked.

Boshielo revealed that the police are treating the murder of Jayden-Lee with the utmost seriousness, deploying all available resources, and confirmed that more arrests are possible as the investigation continues.

The case was postponed to July 18 for Meek’s bail application, and she remains in custody.

"The investigating and the tracking team have been hard at work, following all possible leads and collecting all the information that could lead to Jayden-Lee's killer. Our team has been working closely with the NPA, where evidence gathered resulted in a warrant of arrest, which was executed on Friday. It is rather unfortunate that Jayden-Lee was killed and found in the very space where he should have been safe and secure," she said.

Earlier in the morning, tensions ran high outside the court, where Fleurhof community members and children's rights activists called for justice to prevail over the murder of Jayden-Lee.

Neil Singh, a community activist, stated that he had suspected that a close family member was involved in the mysterious death of the young Royal College learner in May.

"When I learnt that Jayden-Lee had gone missing, I posted this information on social media and later joined a community march to the Florida police station. It became clear that something was amiss in this matter as the family refused the presence of the media at the funeral. Since then, I suspected that something was wrong with this situation," he said.

Thoko Khambule from Fleurhof stated that the community, which came out in their numbers to mourn the learner, is shocked by the alleged involvement of the mother, whose responsibility was to protect and nurture Jayden-Lee.

"We want justice to be served for Jayden-Lee Meek's death. If indeed the mother is involved in the murder, we want her to answer to the community. We were there with her as she was mourning the death of her child, not knowing that she was somehow involved. We call on the justice system to do the right thing as we want answers from her," she said.

Meek, who told the court that she intends to appoint a new attorney after her initial legal representative failed to appear, is set to return to court for her bail application on Friday.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za