DURBAN – A KwaZulu-Natal family is desperate to find closure after their loved one’s body was dumped outside a Pietermaritzburg hospital.
Tanya Oakes’s body was dumped outside the Northdale Hospital on November 5. According to her brother, Tevin Hamann, the family was told that Oakes shot herself in the face.
According to reports, she was allegedly playing with a state-issued firearm when a shot was fired.
She was then rushed to the hospital and left inside her father’s Corsa bakkie. The man who took her there, fled the scene.
However, the family do not believe this was the case. Instead, they claim she was shot by someone known to her.
While the family cannot piece together what happened prior to the hospital “drop off”, they believe that Oakes’s body was unlawfully removed from the actual crime scene.
“As a family we are (in) pain and we are suffering. The trauma of what has happened to Tanya will never leave us. All we ask is for the dignity to mourn the death of our sister and for this not to hang over our heads forever,” Hamann said.
He said an autopsy report confirmed the family’s belief that she was murdered.
Hamann said an investigation revealed that Oakes was not shot inside the bakkie. He said witness statements were inconsistent and have since been retracted.
In an open letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the family is asking for justice.
“Mr President, it is quite clear what has happened to Tanya under the watch of the South African Police Service with their firearm. Allowing the person who did this to get away with it would be a gross miscarriage of justice, and not reflective of a South Africa that anyone would want to live.
“Please Mr President, let everyone who played a role in this heinous and vicious crime against my sister be held accountable. This would allow the family the basic human dignity to try to begin to move forward from this tragedy,” the family said.
The family has also written to the KZN police commissioner after they were unable to open a case against the man they believe shot Oakes.
Hamann said they were told an inquest had been opened.
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate is reportedly investigating the matter.
IOL