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Hairdresser accused of toddler's murder still waiting for bail application

The Eerste River hairdresser accused of murdering 22-month-old Orderick Lucas and the over 500 people who signed a petition for him to get bail will have to wait until next week for the hearing.

It marks another delay in a case that has been punctuated by postponements since Melvin Volkwyn's arrest nearly two months ago.

Children's right's activists have also previously protested at the court and have offered emotional support for Orderick's family.

Volkwyn will remain in custody and return to the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, May 29 for his bail application.

Volkwyn intends to plead not guilty to the kidnap and murder charges.

The little boy's body was found in a drain near his grandmother's house after he went missing.

READ:'It can't be him!' - Mom of missing toddler breaks down after body found in drain

On Thursday, Volkwyn's attorney Crystal Paulse read her client's circumstances from an affidavit, in which he stated he was aware that his community was outraged at the offence, but that their anger was directed at the crime and not at him.

"Like them, I would also like to see justice being done," he said.

Paulse said 515 people had signed a petition for him to be released on bail.

He has two previous convictions for drug possession and shoplifting, for which he was handed suspended sentences.

Orderick had lived with his grandmother Cornelia Scheepers in Wittebol Street, Melton Rose, but had been in his mother's care at the time of his disappearance on Sunday, March 24.

His mother Davidene Lucas had asked Volkwyn to keep an eye on her son that day. According to her, Volkwyn said he had told her on the Monday that he had taken the child back to Scheepers.

When she went to visit Orderick at her mother's house on Thursday, March 28, she discovered that he had never been returned.

Orderick's mother and his grandmother were initially arrested for alleged child neglect and child abandonment, but the case was withdrawn before being placed on the roll.

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