Police looking into Bird Island abuse

Claims of abuse of boys on Bird Island in the 80s is receiving attention from police, national police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said on Wednesday.

However, he would not say whether or not the case had been reopened.

Naidoo said: “The matter is receiving attention but details thereof cannot be provided at this very early stage given the sensitivity of this matter.”

He was responding to questions from the Dispatch on whether or not the case – detailed in the book, The Lost Boys of Bird Island, co-authored by former policeman Mark Minnie who was found dead in an apparent suicide on Monday night – was being reopened and whether police had been planning to meet him.

Minnie, 58, was found dead at a friend’s Theescombe farm on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth with a gunshot wound to the head. His death came just over a week after the book – exposing an alleged paedophile ring involving top-ranking apartheidera cabinet members, which he co-authored with journalist Chris Steyn, was published.

The book claimed that three former National Party ministers, including the late former defence minister Magnus Malan and another one who is still alive, had been central figures in the ring.

Police spokesperson Captain Johan Rheeder confirmed that blood had been taken for a toxicology test and gun residue samples had been taken from Minnie’s hands. The samples would all be sent to the police forensic lab in Cape Town for testing within the week.

The note found on the scene would be sent to the police’s handwriting experts.

According to police officials, the firearm used to kill Minnie belonged to the friend, Brent Barnes, with whom he had been staying.

The note would be sent to the police’s handwriting experts