Daily Sun (July 10 2013) - THE jobless man's father made it clear to him that he was not welcome in the house. The son was forced to sleep in the dark dog box behind the house. BUT SOON THE DOG BOX WOULD BECOME THE SON'S FIERY CHAMBER OF DEATH. The 33-year-old man from Swaneville, west of Joburg, fell on hard times when he lost his job and he had no other option but to go home to his father and his stepmother. But the father gave him very clear instructions. "Pay rent and you can stay in the room behind the house, but if you don't pay rent you have to sleep in the dog box.

The dark structure no more than a metre high and so small that a grown man could not lie down with his legs extended, was the man's only option.

During the day he would beg for food in the neighbourhood and at night he would crawl into the box to sleep. But on Saturday afternoon at about 6pm, the man's father allegedly waited for his son to go to sleep, then locked him inside and set the box on fire.

Neighbours told Daily Sun they saw the man's drunk father lock the box and set it on fire. They thought the man was burning old clothes and rags. A friend told Daily Sun that the man's father later arrived at the shebeen and threatened his wife. "I have burnt the one dog, you are next," he told his wife.

Some hours later the neighbours realised what was happening and they called the fire brigade who broke the structure down. The son had been dead for hours. A neighbour who couldn't stop crying said: "What did he do that he had to be burnt like this? He was a good person." The community held on to the father until the police arrived and he was arrested at the scene.

Spokesman for the Kagiso SAPS, Warrant Officer Solomon Sibiya, confirmed that a murder charge was opened. He said the suspect appeared at the Kagiso Magistrates Court and the case was postponed.

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