Cape Town - The body of a 5-year-old boy was accidentally discovered by his mother as she combed through the rubble of their burnt out home, hours after the fire was put out.
The discovery came as a shock as the family thought the little boy was safe with a neighbour, and they even told the City’s Fire and Rescue Services that no one was in the bedroom at the time of the fire.
The fire ripped through the upstairs bedroom of their Bonteheuwel home on Wednesday night.
Mom, Mymoena Meyer, 38, says she was cleaning up on Thursday morning and as she gathered clothes off the floor, she felt something “heavy” underneath.
To her horror, her son, Kharmeyl, lay face down under the heap of burnt clothes.
Hidden
“I screamed for my husband,” she says.
“Kharmeyl’s feet were burnt. He was lying on his tummy, his face hidden.”
Breaking down in tears, the distraught mom said: “I cannot eat and I will never sleep again. My child’s last moments are all I can think of.”
According to Mymoena, Kharmeyl, his older brother, 6, and their cousin had been playing in the bedroom at about 7:30pm on Wednesday.
“He found his father’s lighter under the pillow and somehow set the bed on fire,” she says.
“His cousin came running down to tell my husband and we went with a few other people to fight the fire.
“I looked for him downstairs and everyone said he was safe with a neighbour. I thought my son was safe,” the mother sobs.
She says Fire and Rescue Services arrived after the community had doused the flames.
“They went in to check that the fire was out, and asked if anyone was inside and we said no.
“It was just the bedroom that was damaged. I did not know my son was there,” Mymoena says.
She says when the firemen left, she started cleaning up, only to find her youngest child dead.
“I saw his burnt feet. He was hiding because he had set the fire,” she sobs.
“He was a naughty boy, but everyone loved him because he was always talking to everybody,” says Mymoena.
Dad, Karmalodien, who was also emotional and wiping away his tears, said: “He was naughty and it cost him his life.”
The couple has two older daughters, aged 14 and 10, who do not live with them, while Mymoena is four months pregnant with their fifth child.
Police spokesperson, Siyabulela Malo, said crime scene investigators were at the house yesterday following the discovery of the child’s body.
“An inquest docket is opened for investigation.”