Daily News

Interpol search for city man

Slain teen’s father slates police for botched murder investigat­ion despite ‘overwhelmi­ng circumstan­tial evidence’ linking boyfriend to crime

- FRED KOCKOTT

POLICE let an alleged teen killer roam free for four years despite “overwhelmi­ng circumstan­tial evidence” linking him to the murder of his ex-girlfriend.

Shannon Lee Roberts’s body was found in dense coastal bush at Doonside Beach in Amanzimtot­i on November 14, 2014.

The Daily News has establishe­d that a police statement was never taken from her ex-boyfriend, Dylan Taljaard, who is now abroad, suspected to be travelling with false papers.

Both were 18 at the time. Taljaard’s father, Wynand, 57, believes his son is innocent and will return home to face trial.

He was scathing about social media commentary on the case.

“Dylan and my family have lived through hell over the last few years,” said Taljaard.

“Apart from him being made to look like a suspect and found guilty on social media, mainly by Roberts’s family, Dylan was never informed that he is a suspect. Eighteen months after he left South Africa in 2016, a warrant for his arrest was issued that I am sure he is not aware of,” said Taljaard.

He dismissed the suspicion that his son might be travelling on false papers. “What would be the need for that?”

He said his family last heard from Dylan when he was in South America in October last year, and had not heard from him since.

Shannon’s adoptive father, Gavin Roberts, does not believe Taljaard, and suspects his family have provided financial assistance to Dylan, enabling him to backpack abroad.

For Roberts, the pain of losing his daughter has been exacerbate­d by the frustratio­n of witnessing police “botch” what he believed should have been a simple investigat­ion.

“That afternoon (Friday, November 14, 2014) Shannon went down from a friend’s place to meet Dylan at the beach, and an hour or so later she was dead.

“Yet Dylan was never even taken in for questionin­g.

“Instead, when Dylan himself went with his father to the police station, presumably to confess, he was reportedly told by an officer not to incriminat­e himself but to rather speak to a lawyer first,” said Roberts.

Roberts said other damning flaws in the investigat­ion – including a failure to study CCTV footage, examine cellphone records and satellite tracking of Shannon’s and Dylan’s phones at the time of the murder – had effectivel­y let Dylan roam free instead of facing trial.

He said it was only after he put

pressure on the Directorat­e of Public Prosecutio­ns to intervene that progress was made.

A new team was appointed under Warrant Officer Rajan Govender of the Provincial Organised Crime Unit.

“After that, there was a complete about-turn leading to a warrant of arrest being issued for Dylan Taljaaard last year,” said Roberts. He said given the “overwhelmi­ng circumstan­tial evidence” placing Dylan at the scene of the murder, a murder conviction was very likely if Dylan ever stood trial. But police are battling to trace him. “His last known whereabout­s was Argentina when he posted pictures of himself on Facebook with new backpackin­g gear,” said Roberts. Although Interpol was advised in October last year that Dylan was backpackin­g around the world, the agency has yet to publish pictures of Dylan, now 23, who has a large and distinguis­hing tattoo around his neck which reads “Pain is just a moment”. A South African police source said “a movement control” showed that Dylan bought a ticket to Dubai in 2017. “The passport does not show any movement out of Dubai, so that’s where the difficulty comes about, and the suspicion that he is travelling on false documentat­ion,” said the source. Police spokespers­on Colonel Thembeka Mbele would not comment on the case, beyond stating that a warrant of arrest had been issued for a suspect after the matter had been transferre­d to a provincial task team for investigat­ion. Interpol also declined to comment about its “red notice” on Dylan not including a photograph or descriptio­n of distinguis­hing features, including his tattoo. “Interpol does not comment on specific cases or individual­s except in special circumstan­ces and with the approval of the member country concerned,” read the statement from Interpol’s press office. | www.rovingrepo­rters.co.za

 ??  ?? Dylan Taljaard, now 23, is effectivel­y a fugitive from justice after a warrant of arrest has been issued for him over the murder of Shannon Roberts in Amanzimtot­i in 2014. I FACEBOOK RIGHT: Taljaard and Shannon Roberts were teenage lovers who lived together in 2014. I FACEBOOK
Dylan Taljaard, now 23, is effectivel­y a fugitive from justice after a warrant of arrest has been issued for him over the murder of Shannon Roberts in Amanzimtot­i in 2014. I FACEBOOK RIGHT: Taljaard and Shannon Roberts were teenage lovers who lived together in 2014. I FACEBOOK
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