It was a scene that only Hollywood’s horror film producers could conjure up: A skeleton sits in front of a bed, a woman watches and the stench of decaying flesh wafs through the street. Only this happened in a quiet street in the seaside suburb of Muizenberg on the False Bay coast.

As the summer season took it its last breath and tourists headed home, neighbours in Scarboro Road, Muizenberg, made a gruesome discovery that had them talking for months. It wasn’t your usual murder or crime or even a murder or crime at all. Before that they were wondering about the absence of one neighbour in particular, that of a 90-year old lady which they haven’t seen for some time. Since they haven’t heard of a death or a funeral from that particular address, they assumed all was in order and that she and her daughter were just staying  indoors.

But what made them even more suspicious was when they noticed that the lights stayed off and bins went untouched. Each time they checked, the daughter insisted her mother was merely sleeping. Even during an earlier police visit, she reassured officers that everything was fine.

It was only on the third visit, when an inquisitive neighbour involved a friend of the old lady, that the gruesome discovery was made. The decaying body of the elderly woman was found on her knees in front of her bed, her walker in front of her as if she had tried to reach the bed but collapsed. 

Neighbours told this reporter that while they occasionally noticed an unpleasant smell, they never suspected anything amiss. 

“Everyone knows them, but our community isn’t the type to be nosy. We look out for each other,” one neigboured ventured an explanation.”

 Another said she noticed more  flies around the house but assumed it was due to living near the ocean.

“It was shocking when we heard what happened,” another resident in the street said. “But we knew it couldn’t have been deliberate, she loved her mother.”

She said even after the mother died, the daughter, still convinced her mother was alive, washed her and brought her coffee, believing her mother was simply tired.

The 90-year old woman had been living with her daughter, a woman in her 50s diagnosed with schizophrenia, who had reportedly been off her medication for several years due to financial difficulties.

Since the incident, the daughter has resumed her treatment and is being supported by her neighbours and the community. 

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” a resident said. “You can’t blame her for what happened she didn’t know what to do and needed help. It’s sad she didn’t get that support at the time.”

The elderly woman has since been cremated.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed the investigation is ongoing. “The remains were identified, but the circumstances surrounding the incident are still under investigation. There are no new developments at this stage,” Twigg said.

With October being Mental Health Awareness Month, Dr Melané van Zyl, a member of the South African Society of Psychiatrists (SASOP), tried to explain the bizarre behaviour of the daughter.

She said if a person, suffering from severe mental illnesses stop their medication, they can easily lose track of reality.

“This is due to two reasons. The first one being that the symptoms of the original illness can come back. In other words, if they’re on an anti-psychotic and it is stopped, then they can become psychotic, like hearing or seeing things that are not there and they’re not orientated to time and place.

“The other reason is that these medications are often quite potent and work on the central nervous system. So if it is stopped, the patient can become confused and delirious. They can have withdrawal symptoms. and they might even have a convulsion. So all these factors can contribute that a person can lose track of reality.”

Van Zyl added the risk of relapse when psychiatric medication is stopped depends on the diagnosis of the patient, as well as the number of previous episodes they’ve had, as well as the severity of the illness.

“The more severe the mental illness, the higher the risk of relapse. In other words, if the diagnosis is schizophrenia, we know that at least or around 80% of these patients will relapse within a year. So this means that their symptoms will return.”

She further explained that it is very common for people with severe mental illness to relapse if their medication is stopped.

“This is very common. It is very common for patients to lose sense of reality and become disorientated to place and person and time, as well as experience hallucinations and delusions when the medication is stopped.”

She said signs that can be looked out for includes strange behaviours.

“The person might wander in the street in the night. Sometimes they might not be fully clothed or appropriately clothed. They might be suspicious and paranoid. They might be talking to themselves.

“Sometimes they will also try to self-medicate so they could use alcohol or drugs. They can also become irritable and even aggressive. It will usually be apparent that they are experiencing a different reality of what is really occurring.

“So it will look like the person is hearing voices, talking to people that are not there, or seeing things that are not there.”

She concluded that statistically, in a family of four, one of the four family members will develop a mental illness in their lifetime.

“So this is extremely common. Stigma can be reduced by awareness campaigns such as World Mental Health Month, which is n October.”

tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za

Weekend Argus 

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