Decomposing body in North removed after bureaucratic mishap

Residents from a homeless shelter in the north of Pretoria are still shocked after it took longer than a day for authorities to remove the body of a deceased fellow resident, thanks to a defective declaration of death form.

This after the body had already been found in a state of decomposition.

The deceased resident, John Mills, is believed to have died in the early hours of Tuesday morning, as he was still seen by another resident late Monday evening.

According to the owner and manager of House of Peace, Renier van der Westhuizen, Mills was “a peaceful resident that never complained”.

House of Peace in Bakenkloof Street, Wolmer, is an NPO that offers shelter to the homeless with 60 residents currently.

Mills had been living there for the past seven years.

“He [Mills] used to get up very early in the mornings to go to work, and only returned late in the evenings. It was thus not out of the ordinary to not see him around during the day.

“It was only when we realised that he hasn’t fetched his lunch for three days, that we investigated.”

Van der Westhuizen said they made the gruesome discovery on Friday morning when they broke down the door of the Wendy house where he had been living.

An ambulance service issued a declaration of death, but could not remove the body since it had already started decomposing, he said.

“We then contacted the police, the municipal forensic department and a couple of funeral parlours. All of them refused to remove the body. Had it not been for the CPF and our ward councillor’s assistance in making all the arrangements, I don’t know what we would have done.”

DA ward councillor Yolanda Duvenage said it was important that residents follow the correct procedures in the event of death.

“Authorities acted within legislation and their mandates when they refused to transport the decomposing body,” she said.

“There was a problem with the declaration of death, namely that the cause of death was not indicated as being natural or unnatural.

“Police can only remove a body if death was due to unnatural causes. Only a forensic department can remove a decomposing body, but only if police can provide a case number.”

Duvenage said the declaration of death was subsequently rectified and the body was removed on Saturday afternoon at around 15:00.

Van der Westhuizen said he was upset that it took them three days to realise Mills was dead and doesn’t want something like that to ever happen again.

“I have made arrangements to obtain funeral cover for all the residents and we have implemented a buddy system where residents will check on each other daily from now on,” he said.

Police had yet to comment at time of publication.

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