Toddlers 'poisoned' - now for a five-year wait for the details

16 June 2019 - 00:00 By ALEX PATRICK
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Antoinette Assegaai's eyes glisten as she shares audio clips of her happy two-year-old daughter Tshepang chatting and giggling. But her last memories of the toddler are of her screaming in pain, foaming from her nose, then her mouth, and eventually silence. She died on May 10 from poisoning.

Fanula Wabet is one of the mothers who lost her child to rat poison while in crèche in Westdene, Johannesburg.
Fanula Wabet is one of the mothers who lost her child to rat poison while in crèche in Westdene, Johannesburg.
Image: Sebabatso Mosamo/Sunday Times

A day later, Fanula and Joseph Wabet's 17-month-old son Othniel died in a similar manner. Both toddlers attended the same unregistered crèche in Sophiatown, Johannesburg, where it is suspected they ingested the poison.

But neither set of parents is likely to see justice done any time soon - if ever. A backlog in toxicology testing means the tests that can prove what poison the children ingested will only be finalised in about five years.

Police will not charge anyone until the results are back.

If fast-tracked, the sample, which should take three weeks to analyse, will be processed within a year, as priority cases are also backlogged.

Autopsies were performed on both children. While Fanula Wabet said she was still waiting for the results, Tshepang's results showed "suspected organophosphate" poisoning. Deadly organophosphates are found in common household products.

The chief forensic pathology specialist at the University of Cape Town's department of forensics & pathology, Lorna Martin, said the average waiting time for toxicology results was about five years.

"It's been that way for the past 20 years. In a well-run . lab we would run a forensic toxicology screen overnight and a targeted screen should take a week, some longer, but . you would expect results back in 30 days.

Fanula Wabet's son Othniel.
Fanula Wabet's son Othniel.
Image: Supplied

"We also have to worry about the sample, where and how it was stored for five years - was it kept at a correct temperature? And some substances metabolise over time, so five years later when you test the sample there is no evidence of the substance," she said.

Gauteng chief specialist in forensic pathology Jeanine Vellema said statistics from 2015 showed a national backlog of about 60,000 medico-legal death investigations, and the Johannesburg Forensic Chemistry Laboratory had a backlog of about 13,500 samples.

She said there were only four forensic chemistry laboratories - in Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg.

Vellema said she had proposed ways to cut the backlog to the health department, but that they had not been met with enthusiasm. These included:

  • Creating a separate lab to process Gauteng samples only. This would cut the processing time to three weeks per sample;
  • Doing a "target search" before a full test for 10,000 possible causes of death, which the health department insists on. A target search covers 150 common causes of death, and is quicker. If no diagnosis is made from this test, a full-scale test could be done; and
  • Salaries on par with the private sector so skilled lab technicians are retained.

Health department spokesperson Popo Maja could not give an official figure for the backlog. He said laboratories were centralised for economic reasons and were run in line with international standards. He said the waiting times for results varied due to the complexity of the tests being performed.

"At times, equipment breakdowns can also delay the finalisation of cases."

Police have confirmed the crèche has been closed. Sophiatown's Capt Jerbes de Bruyn said: "We are waiting on the toxicology report. The case is an inquest and we are waiting for more info to get a clearer picture of what happened. We can't say how long the toxicology report will take, it could be five or six years."

Crèche owner Faith Zorwa has denied the toddlers died as a result of ingesting poison at her facility.

Assegaai said she was disappointed that the case could take years to solve. "I feel like the system has let me down," she said.

Wabet, a hairdresser, said: "I wish the case would be finalised soon because I don't want anyone to go through the pain I am going through. They [police] must find out what happened and fix it because my child went to crèche and didn't come back. This must not happen to any other parent."


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