Africa-Press – South-Africa. It’s disgusting. Whoever did this has no regard for human life,” angry Cape residents exclaimed after a foetus and the body of a 4-year-old girl were found dumped in black wheelie bins in separate incidents this week.
Hanover Park residents Rashaat Marinus, 38, and Uthmaan Stemmet, 41, said they were shocked when they discovered the foetus in the council bin on Tuesday. Marinus said he and Stemmet were searching for goods to sell to a local scrapyard, when he came across a “warm” plastic bag. But it was dark due to load shedding, so he couldn’t determine what it was.
“I thought it was a doll. So, I thought I was going to take it to my friend’s house to sell it to him because I knew he had twins, and I thought he would maybe want to buy it.”
When he went inside, however, and opened the bag, did he realise that “it was a real baby”.
“Yoh! We were all shocked to see it’s a dead baby,” he said.
Stemmet said that when they arrived at their friend’s house, he wanted to know what they had to sell.
“He looked very confused when he opened the plastic bag. It was dark, and we couldn’t really see what was inside. He then told me to strike my lighter, and then we saw it was a dead baby boy,” Stemmet added.
He said their friend told them to take it back to where they had found it because he didn’t want it on his property.
Marinus panicked, he said, so he left the bag on the bonnet of a stationary blue car in Ryston Road, two roads away from where he had made the discovery.
Bystanders then called the police.
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed that a foetus was found in Ryston Road just after 23:00.
“Police registered a concealment of birth case. No arrests have been made, and the circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation,” Twigg said.
Scores of residents gathered at Lugano Court to talk about the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the foetus. “This is disgusting and it’s so sad,” said Nariehma Stuart.
She said the news that the foetus had been dumped in a bin right outside her house broke on Wednesday morning.
“We heard absolutely nothing on Tuesday night, and there wasn’t even a commotion or cars pulling up. It was dark, and everyone was already inside the house because we don’t want to be outside when it’s load shedding,” she said.
Community policing forum (CPF) spokesperson Kashiefa Mohammed were “disappointed and shocked”.
Mohammed added:
She added that it was “unacceptable” that a mother would dump her baby in a bin “as if it’s a piece of trash”.
“The CPF doesn’t know who the baby belongs to, but it cuts no ice because the baby shouldn’t have been dumped in such a manner. It doesn’t matter if the mother is a drug or alcohol addict. There is always help if they can’t take care for their kids anymore.”
“The parents of the baby boy could’ve come knocking on the CPF’s door for help,” Mohammed added.
Locals claimed they had no idea who the parents were but called on police to speed up the autopsy and find the parents “immediately.”
“No life should be dumped” and “justice must be served for the baby,” the community demanded.
In Fisantekraal, near Durbanville, the body of the unidentified 4-year-old girl was found dumped in a bin on an open field, opposite two churches, on Sunday morning.
Resident Anelisa Boki said on Sunday morning her mother asked a 17-year-old neighbour to empty the black bin at the back of the house because she claimed a “very bad smell” was emanating from it.
“My mother asked the boy to go empty the bin on the field. The boy then came back home with the empty bin and asked my mommy why she asked him to empty the bin when there was a body inside. My mother looked shocked and told him to go collect his R20 from one of the tenants for taking the bin away,” Boki added.
Boki said people rented a wendy house on their property.
When the little girl’s body was removed on Sunday, police arrived at their property and arrested a relative and three other people.
“Police took them away, and they were only released the next day because the police said they couldn’t link them to the murder.”
Community activist Elaine Hartzenberg said when she arrived at the scene on Sunday, the body was wrapped in a blanket and gave off a “terrible smell.”
“Police asked me to look at the face to see if I know the child and where she stays. Her body was badly burnt, and half of her face was unrecognisable due to the burns she sustained. Her private parts were hanging out, and it looks like parts of it were taken away from her, almost like for muti purposes [sic],” Hartzenberg said.
Ward councillor Ruan Beneke said no one had opened a missing persons case for the little girl.
“It doesn’t seem like she is from the area. An autopsy was done Wednesday afternoon, and I will receive an update from the police soon. This is the first child that was murdered in the area, and it’s extremely sad. We hope that the people who were involved in this unfortunate incident will be caught and dealt with properly,” Beneke said.
“Durbanville police registered an inquest. A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death of the 4-year-old girl,” Twigg said.
Police have urged anyone who has information about the two incidents to contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
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