Sandra de Villiers, the sister of Jaco Stols, one of the 144 victims of the infamous Life Esidimeni tragedy, on Monday, told the inquest how her brother suffered until he died.
The inquest into the deaths was told that Stols vomited continuously for four weeks, which led to him dying of hunger and thirst at the age of 51.
De Villiers also testified that there were inexplicable marks on his body and that reports indicated that he was crying himself to sleep at night without his caretakers reporting this to his loved ones.
Solidarity Helping Hand and AfriForums Private Prosecution Unit represent De Villiers in this inquest.
Advocate Phyllis Vorster, Prosecutor at the Private Prosecution Unit, has been appointed as a watching brief to assist De Villiers.
Details of how Stols – an intellectually disabled man, with the brain capacity of a nine-year-old child – suffered brought tears to the eyes of many in the High Court in Pretoria.
The inquest court must determine the identity of the deceased, the cause and date of death, and whether the death was caused by an action amounting to an offence by any person.
De Villiers was the 14th witness that has been called to testify.
At times, De Villiers became emotional when she testified how her brother wasted away before her eyes.
Since his transfer on 9 May 2016 from the Cullinan Care and Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) to the new Siyabadinga-centrum in Cullinan his condition worsened until he died.
Stols had been transferred from Life Esidimeni as part of a money-saving scheme.
De Villiers testified how her brother was so hungry and thirsty.
She said during one of her visits that he drank a litre of cool drink at once and that he ate his food so quickly that he “almost swallowed the serviette as well”.
The court heard how Siyabadinga had to close its doors on 8 July 2016 since it was being operated without the necessary permits.
On 19 July 2016 Stols was again transferred – this time to CCRC.
De Villiers said she witnessed how her brother had marks on his body and testified that Stols had said that they were hurting him.
He also cried a lot.
De Villiers reported her observations to the authorities in the hope that something would be done about it.
On 19 September 2016 De Villiers visited her brother again.
He was crying so much and said that they were hurting him. He looked ill and I decided to take him to a private doctor in Rayton, De Villiers testified.
Dr. Deon Lombaard (who will today also testify in the inquest) found that Stols was most probably being abused and suffered from dehydration and malnutrition.
Dr. Lombaard prescribed medication and instructed CCRC to admit Stols to a hospital if his condition did not improve.
De Villiers said this did not happen right away.
After more visits, and at the insistence of De Villiers, Stols was eventually admitted to the Mamelodi Hospital on 26 September 2016 when he weighed a mere 39 kilograms.
However, he was only treated with an intravenous drip and sent back to the centrum where his condition deteriorated further.
On 3 October 2016 CCRC readmitted Stols to the Mamelodi Hospital. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he died on 14 October 2016.
We want justice. I felt that my brothers life was not important to them at all, his life does not matter and he can just die. He was also just a human being, but they treated him like a dog. He was possibly also sexually abused, De Villiers testified.
Commenting on De Villier’s testimony, René Roux, Deputy CEO of Solidarity Helping Hand said: “The State and various other institutions failed Stols and De Villiers, and also all the other victims in this tragedy.
“It is disgraceful that defenceless people had to die allegedly at the hand of their caretakers.
“We cannot allow them to get away with this and will work together with AfriForums Private Prosecution Unit to ensure that justice prevails so that these families can find some solace.”
