Postmortem results show no foul play in couple’s death

PORT St John’s (PSJ) police have ruled out the possibility of murder or any foul play before a luxury BMW X5 vehicle, driven by a couple on a joyride, plunged 150m down a cliff, killing both occupants earlier this month.

The two victims – Lusindiso “Ali” Poyo and Nolwazi Mkhize – died on May 13 when their vehicle went over the edge of a cliff situated on the Mpembeni Mountain near a local airstrip.

Their bodies were discovered six days after being reported missing by a local lodge where they had booked themselves in for the weekend.

The couple had disappeared without a trace, leaving their belongings behind and causing a frantic search around the area by police and emergency services.

Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, PSJ police spokeswoman Captain Nozuko Handile said postmortem results had shown the two died as a result of injuries sustained when their car rolled down the 150m-high cliff.

She said there were no visible signs showing the two had been killed before their car plummeted down the cliff as initially suspected by some.

Handile, however, said further investigations on the circumstances surrounding their deaths were still ongoing.

“At this moment, we are ruling out perceptions that the two could have died before their vehicle rolled down the cliff.

There were no visible signs that the two could have been shot, stabbed or killed in any way before their vehicle went down that cliff,” Handile said.

At the time of their death, 56-year old Poyo was a manager at the O R Tambo district municipality while Mkhize, who celebrated her 39th birthday a day before their disappearance, worked as a personal assistant to the municipal manager of Ingquza Hill Municipality.

Poyo is a married father of three, while he also have three other children from a previous marriage.

He and Mkhize also share two children, aged nine and five, according to Mkhize’s family.

The two were buried separately on Saturday, with Mkhize laid to rest in Flagstaff and Poyo buried at his house in Port St John’s Dangwana village.

Mkhize’s family spokeswoman Nada Manengela yesterday said the family was informed by police that their loved one died of “unnatural causes”, saying the family “was still dealing with such a revelation”.

She refused to divulge more on the matter, saying as the family, “we don’t want to compromise ongoing police investigations on the matter”.

Poyo’s family yesterday said they were also told that the two were probably alive when their car rolled down the cliff.

However a spokesperson for the family still believes there was foul play involved in their deaths. “We will now leave everything in the hands of the Lord as we see that police will not make any arrests despite us feeling that there was foul play in all of this,” they said.

Various rescue teams, including the SAPS K9 unit, O R Tambo district municipality and health department’s emergency services unit and the South African National Defence Force, were involved in the retrieval of the victims’ vehicle and bodies from the cliff two Fridays ago.

Their vehicle was spotted by a health department helicopter a day before the retrieval.

A military helicopter from Port Elizabeth had to be used during the retrieval process as the scene of their accident was not easily accessible. —