#DirkieArnold: No trace of assault says coroner
The inquest docket containing all the findings has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for a decision on closing the investigation.
SECUNDA –Mr Dirkie Arnold (25) died of natural causes.
This is the coroner’s findings stipulated in a post mortem report. There was no evidence of an assault.
A report from a doctor at Evander Hospital completed the night before Mr Arnold’s death corroborates the finding that he had not been assaulted.
Allegations were flung at the Community Policing Forum (CPF) and certain cops, accusing them of assaulting the homeless, including Mr Arnold, a day or two prior to his death on 1 June.
This young drug addict’s body was found on a sidewalk between Lewis Furniture Store and the Secunda Apartments and old mall in the CBD early that Saturday morning in the same spot where his older brother, Sydney, tucked him in only a few hours before.
Sydney claimed that Dirkie had been assaulted, but refused to go home, because he did not want their mom, Ms Henriëtte Nel, to see him like that.
Sydney said his brother was holding his rib cage and had difficulty to breathe.
Also read: He was more than just a hobo says family of young man who was found dead on the streets of Secunda
He vowed on social media to expose his brother’s attackers.
“He did not look well, but Dirkie did not want anyone else to help him except for me,” said Sydney at the time.
It appears that Dirkie’s condition deteriorated on the Friday night and some of his fellow street dwellers pushed him in a trolley to the police station.
ER24 rushed him to Evander Hospital.
“He didn’t stay put. He called our dad who dropped him back at his usual spot in town,” explained Sydney.
“Dirkie called me at about 2.30am on Saturday. I helped him into a freezer suit and stuffed it with papers I found lying around. I helped him cover his head and fluffed his pillow to make him more comfortable.”
He told Dirkie to hang on while he went home to get dressed and to get what was needed to help his brother.
Capt Bettina Zondo who was on the scene that Saturday, maintained that an inquest was opened and the police waited for the post mortem results to reveal the cause of death.
The inquest docket containing all the findings was sent to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for a decision on closing the investigation.
https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/139544/breaking-news-young-man-found-dead-secunda-cbd/
