Young people fill up morgues

WITH gang violence and social economic issues having a cold grip on communities, undertakers have noticed an influx of young people’s bodies stored in Cape Town morgues.

Police Minister Bheki Cele released crime stats for the first quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year yesterday and said there was a 0.2% increase in murder in the Western Cape.

More than 994 people were murdered in the province between April and June, of those 498 died from gunshot wounds. Police also recorded 176 gang-related murders nationally, with 161 of those occuring in the Western Cape.

Undertakers said funerals of young people had spiked from one to four a day to six to 12 a day.

According to the provincial health forensic pathology services, 1 307 young people between the ages of one day and 17 years old were stored in the department’s morgue facilities in 2020. In 2021, that figure rose to 1 422. From 2020 to 2021, the overall number of children’s bodies stored in the facility aged 10 to 14 years went from 112 to 140 bodies; children aged under 11 months went from 460 to 555 bodies; and, children aged one to four years went from 171 to 204 bodies.

The department added that between 2020 and 2021, cases involving natural death saw the number of bodies stored in the facility go from 479 to 492. With cases involving road accidents, young people’s bodies stored in their facility went from 127 to 176.

In cases where the investigation is still ongoing, bodies stored in the facility rose from 165 to 251.

Monray Adams, the owner of Monray Royal Funerals, said that while there was enough storage space to cater for the influx of bodies, there was also a demand to cover more funerals a day.

“I have noticed the influx of young people's bodies at the mortuaries and to be honest, it is a sad reality the undertakers face each day. I have seen an increase in younger men coming with stab wounds or gunshot wounds due to being involved in a crossfire.

“I’ve also noticed that there are more bodies of young girls who had taken their own lives stored in our facility

“Most of the bodies that come through are from the Cape Flats communities. It is so sad to see families endure such pain; the most saddening reality is to see young people’s lives cut short, and their bodies piling up in mortuaries.

“Even though our facilities cater for the influx, there is a demand placed on us. Before the influx, we would do about one to four funerals a day, but lately we do six to 12 funerals a day,” said Adams.

Concurring, the president of the National Funeral Directors Association of South Africa, Lawrence Konyana, said the biggest challenge was cases where post-mortem examinations had to be done for unnatural deaths.

Delays are experienced in those cases due to shortage of relevant personnel.

With the fourth-quarter crime statistics indicating an increase in gangrelated murders in the province, and gang-related murders accounting for 23.9% of Western Cape murders, provincial CPF board chairperson Fransina Lukas said the realities seen in morgues were projections of what occurred in communities of the Cape Flats.

“Gang violence is the order of the day where young people that grew up together now kill each other over territories. Innocent lives get taken during these turf wars.

“The realities experienced in communities are exacerbated by a lot of things that have affected the morale of these children. From poverty to unemployment and young boys being raised by single mothers, with no father figure to give them direction, the reality in the morgues paints a clear picture about what goes in our communities.

“From my perspective, a way to move forward is all levels of government need to zoom in and look into communities so the issues, which are usually social in nature, can be addressed,” said Lukas.

With Salt River Mortuary closing its doors, and the department looking forward to commissioning the Observatory Forensic Pathology Institute as of 2023, Emergency Medical and Forensic Pathology Services spokesperson Deanna February said that the consideration for a new facility was due to the current facility reaching the end of its use.

“The department had foreseen and forecast the increase in all admissions to our facilities and the new facility has been specifically designed to adequately manage the increase in cases.

“The building has basically been completed and we are using a phased approach to commission the building, starting with our administrative component, followed by our histopathology lab. “There was an additional package of works that was required to finalise the works in some of our more specialised areas, which is starting shortly and will be finalised within the first quarter of next year.

“The entire building will be fully functional in that period, and then the decommissioning of the Salt River facility will begin,” said February.

Wayne Mitten, assistant director at the Salt River Mortuary, added that with the new premises, they were hoping to improve on visual identification of the deceased and to accommodate families who wish to personally mourn their loved ones.

“We are learning from the old building and seeing where we can make improvements, even for our staff.

“We allow families to perform spiritual ceremonies and with the new facility we are also looking at accommodating that,” said Mitten. |

A GANG member has been sentenced to 33 years behind bars for his role in wiping out rival gang members and attempting to assassinate others.

Junky Funky Kids (JFK) gang member Shannon Miranda’s sentence was handed down in the Western Cape Cape High Court on Thursday.

Miranda pleaded guilty to one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of the illegal possession of a firearm and two counts of the illegal possession of ammunition.

The State proved that Miranda murdered members of his rival gang in a turf war.

Miranda admitted in his plea and sentencing agreement that on July 25, 2017, he was walking with a fellow gang member when they saw Roscoe Smith on Citrus Street, Bonteheuwel.

He shot Smith, a member of the American gang, in the mouth and they ran away.

Miranda was arrested on October 17, 2017 and confirmed that the shooting was gang-related and formed part of the ongoing fights between the JFK and the American gang.

On August 18, 2020, while he was walking with another gang member, they came across Shayani Kamalie, the next victim.

While talking to Kamalie, they spotted a Fancy Boys gang member, Riyaaz Samaai. Miranda called Samaai over, and they all walked to the field behind Bonteheuwel High School.

Miranda said he had his arm around Samaai as they continued walking, then took out a firearm and shot Samaai several times.

Samaai fell to the ground, and Miranda fired another shot while he was on the ground.

Samaai died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

Kamalie shouted at Miranda, and the fellow gang member and threw stones at them. An unnamed fellow gang member fired a shot at Kamalie, and Miranda was arrested on August 19, 2020.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Miranda had confessed to wiping out rival gang members in order to build up the drug trade.

“Shannon Miranda, a Junky Funky Kids gang member, has been sentenced to effective 33 years imprisonment after he pleaded guilty to murdering members of rival gangs over a fight for dealing in drugs and the broadening of the drug-dealing territory,” he said.

During sentencing arguments, advocate Frank van Heerden told the court Miranda displayed brutal and callous behaviour during the commission of the offences.

Van Heerden argued that the offences were committed with direct intent and that the increasing possession and abuse of firearms contribute to the high levels of violent crimes in communities.

He added that criminal gang activities pose a security threat and infringe the rights of people as enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and that gang activities bring fear and intimidation to law-abiding citizens, and often cause them physical harm.

Ntabazalila detailed the sentencing: “The court sentenced Miranda to 88 years imprisonment but ordered all the sentences to run concurrently, with the 33 years imprisonment imposed for Samaai’s murder.

“The court further declared him unfit to possess a firearm and ordered the police to seize all firearms and ammunition, including any licences, permits or authorisations for the possession of such firearms and ammunition that may be in the possession of the accused.”

The Director of Public Prosecutions in the Western Cape, advocate Nicolette Bell, commended the investigating and prosecution team for their work and securing a good sentence that will send a clear message to gangs.