The Greenspark community atn Fochville is concerned that a boy died after eating chips from a packet allegedly found in the front garden.
Little David Fortuin (8) picked up the chips at about 07:00 on Monday, 8 April. He apparently saw the beef-flavoured chips lying in their front yard going to school. He ignored his mother’s warning not to eat the chips but to bring them to her and continued walking out of the yard. His lift picked him up to go to Greenspark Primary School minutes later.
As far as could be determined, David suddenly started feeling sick at school. Teachers realised he was very ill and rushed him to the Greenspark Clinic. Unfortunately, he died there shortly afterwards. A post-mortem in Carletonville the following morning showed that David had died after ingesting some poison.
Although the full toxicological report will only be available later, police and family believe the poison David ingested probably came from the packet of chips. The speed with which the poison acted shows that it was similar to Aldicarb, commonly known as Two-Step. Criminals often use this illegal agricultural poison to poison dogs.
“We are immensely shocked. It is not right that such a young boy had to die,” says a relative of David, Mr Glen Fourie.
According to Fourie, David was a mischievous little boy known by many Greenspark residents, as he often invited himself to meals at their homes. This was probably the result of the hardship he had experienced earlier in his young life.
“We do not believe he got the chips directly from a shop because he would have shared them with his little brother if he got them the previous day. He came home between 20:00 and 21:00 the previous night,” says Fourie.
Following the incident, parents and children of Greenspark have been warned not to pick up and eat chips they find lying around. As far as could be determined, three more cases of people finding chips lying in their gardens have been reported.
According to Fourie, the last incident happened on Monday morning.
“We do not know whether someone was trying to play a prank because people are terrified after his death,” he says. David’s family buried him in the Fochville cemetery on Saturday.
The Fochville police have opened an inquest case following David’s death. Anyone with information about who was responsible should contact WO Pieter Maartens at 082 227 9231 or WhatsApp him at 071 451 6955.
