18-year-old Sanele Mncwabe accused of stealing a cellphone, was discovered on an unpaved pathway in Nkangala, Inanda in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday.

The Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) responded to a call after his family located his body during a search Sunday morning. On arrival, RUSA medics examined the teenager and discovered that he had sustained blunt force trauma to his body.

According to the Mncwabe family, three of the deceased friends arrived at their home in eMzinyathi in KZN in the morning to ask for his whereabouts, if he came home the previous night. They informed the family that they were assaulted by members of the community after they were accused of stealing a cellphone.

The three managed to escaped but they could not located Mncwabe thereafter, the boy’s family launched a search party and recovered his bruised and battered body in Nkangala.