The family of a young man who fell to his death from a 30m cliff while moonlight fishing off the Morgan Bay crags has signed up private investigator Christian Botha.
They have also pulled in high-profile private Durban forensic pathologist Dr Reggie Perumal to perform another autopsy.
At the time of his death, 29-year-old Jacques Barnard was visiting friends and family in South Africa after moving to the US where he met and married his American wife Alexandra. The couple met while working on a luxury yacht in February last year.
According to his sister, Mireille Barnard-Gouws, 28, who, together with her husband and baby girl accompanied Jacques and Alexandra on a weekend break at the Mitford Hotel, her brother and his wife decided to go fishing on the cliff at about midnight under the full moon of Saturday, October 15.
Alex left the cliff when she became cold and tired and returned to the hotel, while her husband remained to continue fishing.
When he had not returned by dawn, multidisciplinary search and rescue teams were deployed, and that afternoon his body was found floating about 400m from the lighthouse at Kei Mouth.
Botha said he had been contacted by Jacques’ father, Christo Barnard, on October 25. “We discussed the autopsy and he said he was not happy with the outcome so I got the report and got a second opinion.”
Botha said the autopsy showed there was no water in Jacques’ lungs, meaning the cause of death was not drowning. The body had sustained multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a jagged cliff.
Botha said the family wanted “closure” and to this end he had halted the planned cremation which was to have taken place on October 26. “The family felt they needed more evidence and want to know which injuries occurred while he was still alive and which happened postmortem.”
He said he had secured the services of Perumal, who attended Reeva Steenkamp’s autopsy soon after she was shot by Oscar Pistorius in 2013.
“Dr Perumal works with private labs and gets toxicology results within weeks so we will know the blood alcohol count and any medication or foreign body count.”
He said cellphone records and any possible life insurance policies would be scrutinised in order to “cover all bases”.
“I want to make sure we collect as much evidence as possible prior to the inquest,” said Botha, who visited the scene of the tragedy in Morgan Bay this week.
Barnard’s wife returned to the US last Saturday. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
Top sleuth to probe tragic fall from cliff
They have also pulled in high-profile private Durban forensic pathologist Dr Reggie Perumal to perform another autopsy.
At the time of his death, 29-year-old Jacques Barnard was visiting friends and family in South Africa after moving to the US where he met and married his American wife Alexandra. The couple met while working on a luxury yacht in February last year.
According to his sister, Mireille Barnard-Gouws, 28, who, together with her husband and baby girl accompanied Jacques and Alexandra on a weekend break at the Mitford Hotel, her brother and his wife decided to go fishing on the cliff at about midnight under the full moon of Saturday, October 15.
Alex left the cliff when she became cold and tired and returned to the hotel, while her husband remained to continue fishing.
When he had not returned by dawn, multidisciplinary search and rescue teams were deployed, and that afternoon his body was found floating about 400m from the lighthouse at Kei Mouth.
Botha said he had been contacted by Jacques’ father, Christo Barnard, on October 25. “We discussed the autopsy and he said he was not happy with the outcome so I got the report and got a second opinion.”
Botha said the autopsy showed there was no water in Jacques’ lungs, meaning the cause of death was not drowning. The body had sustained multiple injuries consistent with a fall from a jagged cliff.
Botha said the family wanted “closure” and to this end he had halted the planned cremation which was to have taken place on October 26. “The family felt they needed more evidence and want to know which injuries occurred while he was still alive and which happened postmortem.”
He said he had secured the services of Perumal, who attended Reeva Steenkamp’s autopsy soon after she was shot by Oscar Pistorius in 2013.
“Dr Perumal works with private labs and gets toxicology results within weeks so we will know the blood alcohol count and any medication or foreign body count.”
He said cellphone records and any possible life insurance policies would be scrutinised in order to “cover all bases”.
“I want to make sure we collect as much evidence as possible prior to the inquest,” said Botha, who visited the scene of the tragedy in Morgan Bay this week.
Barnard’s wife returned to the US last Saturday. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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