‘Please stop posting RIP’: Missing woman’s family awaits DNA results after Tafelsig body discovery

Sheriline Saville (Centre) and the Tafelsig community is happy that bail was denied

The family of missing 29-year-old Donelle “Mishka” Links has made an emotional plea for people to stop spreading rumours that she is the person whose burnt body was discovered in Tafelsig, as two men appeared in court charged with murder.

Ronald Yon and Virgil Rossouw made their first appearance in the Mitchells Plain Magistrate's Court, where the matter was postponed to 17 November. Both were denied bail and remain in custody.

Outside court on Friday, angry community members held placards demanding that the accused remain behind bars.

Among those gathered was Links's family, who said they attended in solidarity with the community, despite growing speculation that the unidentified body belonged to their missing loved one.

Her father, Donald Fortune, pleaded with residents to stop posting RIP messages suggesting that his daughter had died.

“Please, please people. I would like the people who are posting everything of the deceased, namely Donelle Links, to stop doing that because the family have not got no clue,” he said.

“We are waiting for the results to get any evidence. So stop that, please people, man. If you don't know what to do, we asking to please pray or continue praying.”

A relative stressed that Links remained a missing person until DNA results established the identity of the deceased.

“We plead with the community to stop posting that is Donelle until the DNA results come back. Please people.”

The family acknowledged reports that Links had last been seen with one of the accused but emphasised that there was no DNA confirmation linking her to the remains.

“For whoever might have been lying there, it is not right what happened to this person. We as the family just want people to give the family time to wait for the results.”

Links, the family explained, has not been heard from since Thursday.

Her father described her as a loving, respectful young woman who always had a smile on her face.

“She never gets cross, she never swears. She respects the elder ones. She always has a smile on her face,” Fortune said.

He recalled her love for the song One Love, which she frequently played, and how she would regularly visit family members.

“She would pop in and pop out, make something to eat, go around to her cousins and then leave.”

A relative issued a heartbreaking appeal directly to the missing woman.

“Donelle, please come home. Your mother, your father, your baby, your sisters, your family, your cousins, we all are looking for you to come home. We're praying that you are somewhere listening, that you are coming home. That is our belief as your family.”

Meanwhile, protester Sheriline Saville said residents were relieved that the accused would remain behind bars.

“Ronald Jon, he must stay in prison,” she said, making several unverified allegations about his alleged involvement in previous crimes.

“Our community is so tired and fed up. We don't want him in our community. He must not get bail!”

Saville also admitted that some residents had wanted to attack the suspect during Tuesday's violent unrest.

“They took him away from us, because we wanted to kill him ourselves!” she said.

The unrest erupted after residents confronted a man suspected of involvement in the murder, resulting in burning tyres, stone-throwing and stun grenades being deployed.

Eight men were subsequently arrested for public violence.

The murder investigation follows the discovery of a body burnt beyond recognition near Hugenote Street and AZ Berman Drive on Saturday, 17 October.

The identity of the deceased has not been officially confirmed, and Links's family continues to hold on to hope that she will return home safely.