Kimberley - Traffic came to a standstill in Kimberley’s Long Street when the body of a man who had apparently committed suicide was flung out of a pathology van that was transporting him to hospital.
On Friday motorists and members of the public, who saw Gordon Russel Spadonie’s body, which was on a gurney, being flung out of the van and ending up in the road, screamed in shock.
“What the hell,” one person said.
“Wow! Wow! Wow! What are you doing,” another witness, pointing at the pathology van, said.
The visibly shocked driver of a vehicle that was travelling behind the pathology van slammed on his brakes and got out of his vehicle to try and stop traffic.
At this stage the pathology van had already stopped and its driver was rushing towards the gurney to recover Spadonie’s body, which was lying face down in Long Street.
After recovering the body, the driver of the van checked whether the doors were properly secured.
Members of the public who witnessed the incident said that this was a huge embarrassment for the Northern Cape Department of Health. “That is a monumental stuff up. All the people involved in this must be punished severely,” one person said.
The DFA also received several phone calls from residents who demanded that the department apologies to the Spadonie family.
“The department must not only offer a public apology to Spadonie’s family, but its officials must also visit his family. If this does not happen the family must consider suing the department,” one person said.
Spokeswoman for the Northern Cape Department of Health, Lulu Mxekezo, said that they have not received a report regarding the incident. “However, we will investigate the matter.”
Details surrounding the death of Spadonie, who apparently shot himself in the mouth at his place of work, remained sketchy on Monday with family members and colleagues refusing to speak to the media.
Spadonie, 50, a manager at Equipment Spare Parts (ESP), Kimberley, shot himself at his place of work in Brand Street.
Although the company’s management refused to speak to the media regarding the incident, it is believed that Spadonie, a manager at Equipment Spare Parts (ESP), arrived at the office around 7am on Friday morning and went straight into the storeroom where he shot himself in the mouth.
According to the police, Spadonie’s body was found by his co-workers.
According to witnesses, a manager at one of the offices in the vicinity of ESP heard the shot and called the police.
“The police arrived shortly after Spadonie’s co-workers discovered his body which was lying in a pool of blood,” the community members said.
The manager concerned confirmed to the DFA that he heard the gunshot at around 07:15am.
“I can’t comment further than that,” he said.
Northern Cape police spokeswoman, Lieutenant Andrea Cloete, said that the police were investigating the incident. “The cause of his death is still not known,” she said.
The spokesman for the family of Spadonie, Farrell Moses, said that the family was traumatised and shocked by Gordon’s untimely death.
“The family will always remember Gordon as a good father and as one of the ministers at the All Saint Anglican Church in Homevale. He was also a great sportsman, playing rugby, soccer and cricket,” Moses said.
He added that the family would not respond to questions surrounding the suicide, but would wait for the outcome of the police investigation into the incident.
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