‘Playing around’ ends in drowning tragedy

Published Apr 25, 2016

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Cape Town - A mother was overcome with emotion after her 7-year-old son drowned in a swollen retention basin opposite their home.

Tertia Jansen, 41, struggled to come to terms with her son’s death and said she wished to remember him as a “sweet and happy child who loved to play”.

Tyler-Johan Jansen, a Grade 2 pupil at Northway Primary School, was catching tadpoles with his four friends near the retention basin’s bed in Ravensmead when it’s alleged that a 9-year-old boy shoved him into the water, believed to be 2m deep.

A retention basin is used to manage stormwater run-off to prevent flooding and downstream erosion.

The water from the retention basin flows into a pond which then makes its way into the ocean. Water levels in the retention basin, on the corners of De La Rey Street and Fransie van Zyl Road, rose after a storm ripped through the city on Friday.

It is believed stagnant water was allowed to reach the footpath that cuts across the retention basin because of a faulty water pipe that failed to allow the stormwater to make its way to the ocean.

Tyler-Johan’s uncle, Peter Fredericks, said: “They were playing around. The first time he was pushed into the water he could climb out. The second time he was pushed in, he did not surface and his friends ran away. One of them told Tyler-Johan’s cousin.”

When the boy’s cousin, Jason Fredericks, 20, and his friend Ferlin Beukes, 21, made it to the retention basin, the water was “scarily” still.

Jason, who was visibly shaken on Sunday, said they could not spot his cousin anywhere.

He said Tyler-Johan’s friends had fled as they were scared they would get into trouble, which left the area vacant of witnesses who could point to the spot where he had disappeared.

Peter said: “They searched for him, but could not immediately find him. Ferlin was the one to find him at the bottom of the pond; he tried to hoist Tyler’s body onto the bank. Jason jumped in to help him and both gave Tyler CPR until the paramedics came.”

Paramedics declared Tyler-Johan dead on arrival at 12:30pm, Emergency Medical Services spokesperson Robert Daniels confirmed.

“I was at work when I got a phone call to say I must come home,” Tertia said.

“They did not tell me that my baby had died.”

The 9-year-old boy, who is said to have pushed Tyler-Johan into the pond, was taken to the police station with his mother. Community leader Dorothy Conradie said the faulty water pipe had been an issue she had brought up with the city council before.

But, she said Tyler-Johan’s death was the first incident the community had experienced in 25 years.

“Tyler-Johan’s mother has to live with this unbearable pain. I am sad that Tyler will never again greet me in the streets and ask me how I am. He always had a smile on his face and never had a dull moment,” she said.

City council spokesperson Priya Reddy said: “The city sends its sincere condolences to Tyler-Johan Jansen’s family and friends.

“The city will be investigating the allegations thoroughly.”

Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said an inquest case is under investigation: “No one has been arrested at this stage.”

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