THE family of a man whose naked body was found are struggling to piece together the puzzle of what could have happened to him.
Andries ‘Bambie’ Prollius’ (30) body was found on the morning of April 23 at the back of Shoprite on Central Avenue, opposite a car wash business.
The father of three young boys had allegedly been beaten to death, stripped naked and left there outside a nearby scrap yard.
EXPRESS spoke to his family, who explained how the story unfolded.
Also read:
• Body of 13-year-old found 15 hours after being swept away
• Woman’s half-naked body found in open veld
“The Saturday before he died, Bambie had visited us,” his older brother, Buks Prollius explained.
He then went home to Rhodesfield, where he lived with his mother and his three sons aged 2, 5 and 6.
As Bambie’s cellphone needed fixing, he left it with his brother, who then gave him a spare cellphone to use in the meantime.
“He was supposed to come back to our house the next morning at about 6am to help us move. When he didn’t show up, we didn’t think much of it at the time.”
By Monday, he had still not been home in Rhodesfield.
“On Tuesday, the weirdest thing happened. My mother and Bambie’s son started having bad dreams. By Wednesday (April 26) my sister decided to go to the police station, where she was told about a white man’s body that was found on Sunday morning. They said she should go to the Germiston Mortuary and identify the body.”
When the family went to the mortuary, they positively identified the deceased as Bambie.
The police said he couldn’t be identified for those few days because no identity was found on him. His backpack that he was carrying and his two cellphones were also missing.
“The only thing we found when we went to go look at the scene were his shoes.”
The family has posted a plea on Facebook urging people to come forward with more information.
“The whole situation is just very confusing and mysterious to us and we don’t understand what could have happened and why this happened.”
Bambie was well known in the community. He was a qualified air conditioner mechanic. He was separated from his wife.
His family described him as a likeable, generous and helpful person.
He will be buried on May 9 at the Zuurfontein Cemetery. The church service will be held at the Old Apostolic Church in Esther Park. The community is welcome to attend.
