The family of deceased murder accused George Louca on Tuesday threatened to take legal action against South Africa's correctional services department for denying him the opportunity to die in dignity with his relatives in Cyprus.
The brother of Louca, Dimitri Panayiotou has stated that he will take the local justice and correctional service departments to task for refusing Louca medical parole and letting him "die like a dog in a jail cell."
Louca died at the Kgosi Mampuru II Prison's hospital section on Monday night. He was suffering from stage 4 lung cancer. His request to be allowed to return home was denied recently.
Speaking to 702, an emotional Panayiotou said he would not leave things as they are, as he believes a gross injustice was done to his brother. He said the family had taken the news of Louca's passing "very badly".
"When I informed my father that his son had passed away, he collapsed and we took him to hospital. We are very shocked."
Panayiotou explained he had last spoken to Louca a few days ago and was told by him that he was not well.
"His voice was very weak and he couldn't talk properly. He told me he was sure the authorities would release him to return back home. I believe the South African authorities wanted him to die in South Africa. They took all the information from my brother and then they threw him away. This is not fair, where were his rights?
"We showed them the documents from Steve Biko hospital which said he would live a maximum of three months. They knew this and yet they kept him in a cell. How do you keep a person with stage 4 lung cancer? On Monday they took him to the hospital, said they stabilised him and took him back to the prison where he died," said Panayiotou.
According to Panayiotou, his family intend to bring a law suit based on a gross violation of human rights.
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