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Two friends locked eyes in the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court, but neither of them smiled - Melvin Volkwyn is accused of kidnapping Davedine Lucas' 22-month-old son Orderick, whose body was found in a drain last week.
Volkwyn, a hairdresser, made a brief appearance in the dock where his case was postponed to May 7 for a bail application.
Court orderlies had their hands full as dozens of children's rights activists, locals and friends of Volkwyn tried to force their way into the packed courtroom to see the blonde, bearded accused.
Volkwyn has also been charged with defeating the ends of justice.
READ: I walked past that drain many times, not knowing my child's body was there - Orderick Lucas’s mom
Orderick, who lived with his grandmother Cornelia Scheepers, had been in his mother's care at the time of his disappearance.
Lucas had asked Volkwyn, to keep an eye on her son on Sunday, March 24 - the last time he was seen alive.
Lucas claimed Volkwyn had told her that Monday that he had returned the child to Scheepers. She said it was when she went to visit her little boy at her mother's Wittebol Street house the Thursday that she discovered that he had never been returned.
Lucas believes that when she went to report his disappearance, Orderick's body was already in the drain a few doors away from her mother's house because children in the neighbourhood noticed an unpleasant stench in the vicinity.
The drain where Orderick’s body was found. (Tammy Petersen, News24)
The mother of four said she felt "nothing" when she saw Volkwyn in the dock.
"I don't want anything from him, except to know what happened to my child. That's all I want to ask him," she said after Volkwyn was taken back to the holding cells.
Outside, Lucas and Scheepers joined a group of activists as they demanded justice for Orderick.
"An innocent child paid. The devil is roaring, but he is a liar," a woman prayed passionately.
Another man, who had initially been charged alongside Volkwyn before the charges were withdrawn, also attended proceedings.
Lucas said she was supposed to identify her son at the state mortuary.
"I am not ready to see him yet, not like this. I have asked my mother to do the identification because I want to remember him the way he was when he was still with me. I just want to know where he is hurt. But I am not ready to see it."
Funeral arrangements have not yet been made.
When asked if anyone has been arrested or charged with Orderick's murder, police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana responded that there were "no new developments to report so far".
The case is still under investigation, she said.
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