Officer tells court Tiffany Meek showed no panic during search for missing son

A police sergeant testified on Friday in the Johannesburg High Court that Tiffany Meek appeared calm while officers searched for her missing son, Jayden‑Lee Meek. According to IOL, the evidence was given during the trial at the Palm Ridge court.

Search and the officer’s observations

According to IOL, Police Sergeant Rito Koveni told the court she was searching for the missing child in the Swazi Place apartment complex around midnight. She said the complex’s security guard had told her Jayden‑Lee was wearing red clothes when he entered the premises after being dropped by the school transport and that the guard saw the child again later in the complex.

According to IOL, the officer said she knocked on the neighbour’s apartment doors, but did not knock on every door within the apartment complex. She told the court:

“When we were asking the accused if the child had any friends in the apartment complex, she said no. It was late, and when we knocked, no one was opening”.

Statements about Meek’s demeanour

According to IOL, the sergeant who said she has extensive experience with missing persons told the court that most people show concern or panic; according to her, Meek showed no panic.

On whether there is a right way to act when an individual is missing, the officer was quoted in court:

“If it were my child, I could not be calm. I cannot say anything, I even told my colleague, by the way she was acting, she knows where the child is. I didn’t think the child was dead or anything”.

According to IOL, the police sergeant said she had a feeling that Meek knew something about her child’s disappearance but did not act on her suspicions because she did not want to victimise Meek on a secondary level.

Case background included in testimony

According to IOL, Jayden‑Lee was reported missing on May 13, 2025, after he failed to return home from school. His lifeless, half‑naked body was found on May 14, 2025, near the staircase in the Swazi Place complex just metres from the front door of his home.

According to IOL, Tiffany Meek, who pleaded not guilty to murder, child abuse, defeating the ends of justice and crimen injuria, was arrested on July 11, 2025, and has been in custody since following a failed bail application.

Defence response

According to IOL, the defence told the court the police sergeant was “captured” by media attention after Meek’s arrest, noting that the sergeant only gave her statement in September 2025. The sergeant said she had told the leading detective of the evening but that “I am not a detective; the detective is the one to take it further,” she testified, according to IOL.

The trial continues.