Family identifies body
THE body of Nivendra Ramouthar who had been missing for more than a month has been found.
Ramouthar’s body was found at Durban’s North Beach by police on the same day he went missing early in March.
His body was taken to the Phoenix Mortuary where it had laid until his family was notified at the weekend to identify him.
Ramouthar’s family had been searching for him after he went missing from his Silverglen home on March 8.
Initially his family believed that he had travelled to Bloemfontein for his 13-year-old son’s tennis tournament, which was expected to take place during the time he went missing.
His son travelled separately with his team for the event.
But when his son returned home, two weeks later on March 25, he told his grandfather that Ramouthar was not at the event.
A missing persons case was then filed at the Chatsworth police station.
Ramouthar’s father, Chris Ramouthar, said his son left home at about 6.30pm on March 8 and that police found his body in Durban’s North Beach around 10.30pm that same day.
“He was taken to the Phoenix Mortuary around 1am the next morning.
“We however did not know this until recently. We were told to come to the Phoenix Mortuary on April 27 where we positively identified him.
“We also could not get a hold of him on his cellphone. We eventually put out flyers, reporting him missing. We never thought we would find him like this. He was a loving father to two beautiful children, a 16-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. He was the director of his own financial consulting company. He was the sole supporter of his mum and me.
Ramouthar said the police should have done a better job in circulating the information about the body they had found.
“If they circulated the information to all the stations properly, we would have known sooner. For us to have to go through such anxiety for so long is not right.”
Ramouthar said Nivendra was their last surviving child. His younger son passed away in an accident 21 years ago.
“I am 75 years old and the future is so bleak. Everywhere we look, everything we do, we will think of our loss.”
Ramouthar was not clear on the cause of death.
He said they were waiting for the post-mortem to be completed.
Nivendra’s funeral is expected to be held on May 3.