Boy chokes on Christmas toy
2008-01-11 07:28
Vanderbijlpark - An eight-year-old boy who was playing with his Christmas toy gun choked to death when the plastic plug (suction cup) lodged in his windpipe.
Jaco Derwig died shortly before New Year when it is thought that he licked the suction cup, which came loose and was breathed in.
Lenie Pretorius, Jaco's granny, said her grandson suddenly jumped out of bed just after 06:00 on the morning he died, and ran to his uncle Wikus de Klerk's bedroom.
"I wondered why he was up so early and why he was running around. I asked him. He just pointed at his throat, and we could see he was struggling to breathe.
Turned blue
His mother Cilie Derwig said De Klerk gave Jaco a glass of water. "All of it just came up immediately.
"When his ears turned blue, my mother phoned the ambulance. It was just after 06:00. Then he turned blue around his mouth. His legs began to wobble and he kept pointing at his throat. We couldn't understand what he was trying to tell us. He became weaker right in front of our eyes and we couldn't help him."
Pretorius said two ambulance men from Sedibeng arrived at their house at 06:50.
Jaco had already lost consciousness. "I told the ambulance staff that the child was struggling to get air. His heart was still beating and he still had a pulse.
She said Jaco died without them examining his trachea.
Pretorius said a doctor at Sebokeng (whose name she did not remember) removed the suction cup after cutting a hole in his throat.
Derwig said she'd picked up the back part of the arrow in Jaco's room last week.
"I'm going to put it away. It caused my child's death," Derwig said.
Jaco got the little toy gun from a friend at the Totius primary school.
Loved his toy
"It was a Christmas present and he was very excited about it. He played with it every day."
The plastic gun and two arrows were made in China and retail at The Crazy Store for R11.99.
There's a warning on the packaging that it could present a choking hazard and that children under three years of age should not play with it.
Derwig said Jaco would have started Grade 2 this week.
"I was heartbroken when I saw his schoolclothes. I folded them and will keep them for the day when his cousin Hannes, 2, goes to school."
Wayne Botes, acting operational commander of Sebokeng Emergency Services, said on enquiry that the matter was being investigated.
He had no further comment.
Jaco was Derwig's only child. She was a single parent.