Snake slithers into boy's bed
2006-11-02 08:25
Johannesburg - A seven-year-old boy died after a Mozambican spitting cobra slithered into his bed at the weekend and apparently bit him twice on the arm.
Leendert Bornman died in a hospital in Rustenburg two days later after the poison apparently affected his heart.
"I was woken up early on Sunday morning by my child's terrible screaming. I saw two bite marks on his arm. The snake's tooth apparently got caught and it bit my child twice," said Mariana Bornman, Leendert's mother.
Bornman, who lives about 20km from Thabazimbi in Limpopo, rushed Leendert to hospital.
"He was nauseous and his body was contorted - I could see my child was
in terrible pain."
Doctors administred antivenin. "They said they needed to give him a second serum, but first had to know what type of snake it was."
'I hoped he would make it'
Bornman and a friend returned home to search for the snake. They found the cobra behind the freezer in the kitchen.
Bornman's friend shot and killed the snake and returned to the hospital with it.
Leendert was later transferred to a hospital in Rustenburg, but his condition continued to deteriorate. He was put on a ventilator on Monday afternoon. Some time later his heart stopped and he died shortly after midnight.
"At one stage the colour returned to his skin, and I hoped that he would
make it," said Bornman. "I want to warn parents with small children against
snakes.
"It somehow entered our home, but I don't know how. People should realise that snakes should be taken seriously and they must be extra careful. I don't want anybody else to suffer the pain I'm in now - it is indescribable."
The family found a black mamba in the house on Saturday morning. They searched the house for more snakes, but found none.
"I am speechless. There are so many questions I still want to ask him. It happened to my baby, and not to me. If one only knew why, it would have been easier," said Bornman.
She also has an 11-year-old son, William.