Durban: A Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) couple is waiting for justice a year after both their children died of organ failure.
Selina and Stanton Ingram’s children, Tammy, 12, and Matthew, 17, died days after they allegedly inhaled toxic gases from a neighbouring flat that was being fumigated at their complex in Kabega Park.
At the time, Selina Ingram told the POST that their neighbours were notified about the fumigation arrangements and were told to make alternate sleeping plans on August 21 last year. She said they were unaware of this.
Ingram, a housewife, said she and Stanton, a draughtsman, had said goodnight to their children before going to bed. Tammy, however, woke them up a few hours later. She told them she was not feeling well. Her eyes and nose were burning and she was nauseous. Ingram looked for medication and then checked on Matthew.
She said her son had spent the day in school and had dinner at a friend’s home. Matthew, who was in his school uniform, told his mother he also felt unwell. He had a headache and also felt nauseous.
Ingram said shortly thereafter both children began to vomit and had diarrhoea. She said by then, Stanton started vomiting and she felt nauseous and fell unconscious. Ingram said that when she regained consciousness, her husband and children were still ill and she called relatives for help.
Ingram said that while waiting to be taken to the hospital, Tammy had what resembled a seizure and her husband and son were still vomiting.
When they arrived at the hospital, Matthew collapsed, began to shake and frothed at the mouth. Both children, she said, were put into a medically-induced coma to avoid brain damage, while she and Stanton were treated in casualty and discharged a few hours later. She said the children’s condition did not improve.
Tammy, a Grade 7 learner at Erica Girls’ Primary School, died on August 23, two days after she was admitted to the hospital. She would have celebrated her 13th birthday on September 4 of that year. Matthew, a Grade 11 learner at Westering High School, died in hospital on September 18, three days after his 17th birthday.
Ingram said that during that time, a family friend spoke to her neighbours and they found out that hours before they fell ill, a unit in their complex was fumigated. She said she was then told the neighbours were advised to spend the night elsewhere. Ingram said there was no notice put up in the complex, nor were they issued with written notification of the fumigation.
At the time, police said Kabega Park detectives had opened an inquest docket.
She said she put Tammy and Matthews pictures on a bench at their home at the weekend. The bench was where she and her daughter would often sit and talk. They last time they chatted there was the day the family got sick.
Ingram said that in remembrance of them, family and friends gathered at their home with flowers and lit candles, which they placed on the bench in their memory.
On Tammy's one year death anniversary on Monday, relatives and friends again lit candles and placed flowers on Tammy's gravesite at the Malabar Cemetery. They then released white balloons in her memory.
Ingram said the children had been looking forward to the 2021 school year.
“It would have been Tammy's first year of high school and Matthew's last year of high school. Tammy was supposed to become an architect. She and her father planned to open an architectural firm in a few years. Matthew worked so hard toward his dreams of becoming a director and producer of movies. My children were robbed of their dreams."
She said it was also difficult living at the complex.
“I have a love-hate feeling towards this place. It's so difficult. For days, I cannot go into the children's rooms. I get frustrated to see empty beds and chairs in their rooms. Sometimes, when I leave the house and when I am driving back, I get upset as I think that my children are not there. But we also have so many good memories at our home. I am waiting for an opportunity for my husband and me to leave soon."
Ingram said the children’s upcoming birthdays would be the hardest.
“Their birthdays meant more to me and I planned something different every year for them. I decided that I would continue to do something on their birthdays this year. Tammy's birthday is next week, so I am going to keep busy by baking and distributing the sweet treats to street children.”
Ingram said that for her son’s birthday, she would also bake and distribute the sweet.
“We will also gather at his gravesite and light candles. We will then release some balloons at our favourite spot, 1 000 Steps, which we often visited. It is a beautiful and calming place. We used to go there to watch the waves and the sunset and look for dolphins.”
On days that were difficult, she preferred to either be alone to gather her thoughts or be with her mother and siblings. “They share my pain.”
She said her family was awaiting answers about her childen’s deaths and they were unable to heal from their loss.
“It's impossible to heal. Half of me is missing. Where my children were ripped out from me is raw. There is no healing right now, unless it's a miracle, which I am waiting for every day. It's painful to see other mothers shopping with their children or dads with their daughters running into the shop after picking them up from school. Sometimes I feel like just holding these children for a while.”
She said she could not speak too much about the investigation but there was a hold up at the government lab pertaining to toxicology reports.
“However, those who are responsible for what happen to our family still continue with their daily lives. We want justice but we believe we just need to be patient and everything will roll out like it is supposed to."
Colonel Priscilla Naidu, an Eastern Cape police spokesperson, said on Tuesday that the inquest investigation was almost complete.
“However, we are still awaiting toxicology reports from laboratories in Silverton and Cape Town. In March 2021, the Department of Agriculture also opened a case relating to the administering and application of agricultural remedies for pest control. The case will be investigated concurrently with the inquest. Once the toxicology reports are received, both dockets will be sent to the inquest court for a decision.”
The Post