MBOMBELA – The death of Mr Manie Schoeman who was cremated three weeks ago, left his friends and family with a web of unanswered questions. Overwhelmed and unconvinced of what had caused the 40-year-old man’s death, some of Schoeman’s friends and relatives aired their concerns to Lowvelder.
Allegations were rife that Schoeman’s death was preceded by drug and alcohol abuse and that he had taken a large number of headache pills before he collapsed at a local pub. With no official inquest launched everyone was left with only the versions of those who spent his final days with him.
On Saturday June 25 Schoeman was part of a group of men who spent the day practising their shooting skills on a friend’s farm. As dusk drew nearer, they arrived at Little Loftus, a popular bar on the Uitkyk Road. Little Loftus owner, former murder and robbery policeman Mr Henk de Kock, vehemently denied allegations of drug abuse at his establishment. He was as surprised by Schoeman’s sudden death.
Mr Jacques Ainslie from Hi-Tech Emergency Medical Services described, what he saw that night, as the strangest scenario he had exprienced in his career. He found Schoeman with his lower body completely paralysed. Ainslie administered a glucose drip to Schoeman, whose blood pressure was low. Schoeman at this stage refused to go to hospital. “The patient and his friends requested me to take him home,” said Ainslie.
“I was about to leave the premises when I was called back as his condition had worsened.” Schoeman still refused to go to hospital. According to a source, his friends were aggressive and kept demanding that he should not be taken there. Ainslie said he decided against it and rushed him. Schoeman was admitted to Kiaat, where he suffered a seizure and never recovered.
On the Thursday, the artificial life support was slowly reduced until he died on July 1.
Schoeman’s friend, local dentist Dr Hubert Krafft, was present during the whole debacle. Krafft said that he “could not recall the man from Hi-Tech leaving and returning”. He said he knew nothing about drug use and that they were not even drinking excessively.
After Schoeman’s death, his mother, Marie, ordered that no post-mortem be done on her son’s body and he was cremated. Dr Caswell Nkuna’s written notice of death stated that the immediate cause of death was encephalitis.
Krafft said that Nkuna’s finding corresponded with the complaints that Schoeman had voiced over the past few months. He had apparently been nauseous on a regular basis.
An anonymous family member said he had become nauseous in his sleep and suffocated more than once, which had caused obstructions in his lungs. “This led to pneumonia-related symptoms and decreased oxygen to his brain,” she said. Police spokesman Capt Dawie Pretorius said the death was not listed as unnatural and that no inquest had been opened.
“When someone dies as a result of unnatural circumstances, the doctor who writes the notice of death carries the responsibility to classify the death as unnatural if he deems it as such. In this case, the death seemed to have been natural,” he said.
Lowvelder approached Ms Marie Schoeman for comment a number of times, but could not get hold of her.
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