A police officer has testified in the Johannesburg High Court that Tiffany Meek appeared “unusually calm” while authorities searched for her missing 11-year-old son, Jayden-Lee, whose body was later discovered at their apartment complex. Sergeant Rito Koveni, who took the stand on 12 June 2026, told the court that the mother’s lack of visible panic during the search raised immediate suspicions about her involvement in her son’s disappearance.
Investigation And Police Testimony
During the proceedings at the Palm Ridge sitting of the High Court, Sergeant Koveni detailed his interactions with the accused shortly after Jayden-Lee was reported missing on 13 May 2025. He stated that in his 16 years of police service, he had never encountered a parent whose child was missing who displayed such a high level of composure.
I have been 16 years in the service and that was my first time seeing someone whose child is missing who was so calm. She was not in a panic.
Koveni further testified that the suspect’s demeanour led him to believe she had prior knowledge of the boy’s whereabouts. He noted, “If it were my child, I could not be calm. I cannot say anything. I even told my colleague that, by the way she was acting, she knew where the child was.”
Case Background And Legal Charges
The investigation began after Jayden-Lee failed to return home from school in May 2025, leading to the discovery of his body near a staircase at the Swazi Place apartment complex in Fleurhof the following day. Tiffany Meek was subsequently arrested on 11 July 2025 and currently faces serious charges, including murder, child abuse, defeating the ends of justice, and crimen injuria.
Prosecutors allege that the child was killed inside the apartment and that the scene was staged to obscure the circumstances of the incident. Meek has entered a plea of not guilty to all charges brought against her. The trial is expected to continue with further witness testimony regarding the findings of the forensic investigation at the crime scene.