New probe of mystery fire deaths
● Eight years ago Naseema Ahmed’s daughter Suraya and four grandchildren died in a blaze that destroyed their home in Ormonde, Johannesburg.
The 64-year-old pensioner hopes a new inquest, which started this week, will determine what happened.
Her son-in-law Naeem Deedat was the only person to survive the blaze. He was rescued after shouting for help from a bathroom window. However, a witness told the first inquest he saw Deedat earlier, outside the smoking house.
The presiding officer at an initial inquest died before he could give a ruling, though he informed the court in writing that he intended to rule there was not enough evidence to prosecute Deedat.
The Ahmed family, with the help of AfriForum, succeeded in having a new inquest held.
AfriForum lawyer Phyllis Vorster told the Sunday Times there was enough evidence to suggest that the fire could have been started on purpose.
“We believe the initial investigation was not adequate. It is clear to us there was an injustice,” said Vorster.
In 2011, Deedat told reporters that a pillow had fallen onto an electric heater, starting the fire.
He later said he had started running between the bedroom and bathroom with water to douse the fire. It was unclear why Suraya and the four children, Uzair, 4, Fatima Zahraa, 3, one-year-old Laiqua and six-month-old Zubair did not flee their room.
An investigation by Johannesburg emergency services was unable to determine the cause of the fire.
In the initial inquest, a man passing by said he had noticed smoke from the house and had seen Deedat outside, a contradiction of Deedat’s version.
This week Vorster told the inquest magistrate, John Maloba, the family wanted to consult an independent fire expert. Maloba postponed the hearing to October.
Ahmed told the Sunday Times she was relieved the inquest would finally be heard in earnest. “We have never had closure. The pain will be there always, but I think now that we have a proper inquest, we’ll finally be able to find the truth. We need to know what happened.”
Deedat, who has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence to the inquest court, declined to comment.