Independent Newspapers
File Photo: Bongiwe Mchunu
Durban – A Durban fisherman made a gruesome discovery this week when he reeled in a human foot while fishing on a Bluff beach.
Vernie Gokul, 42, a fisherman from Clairwood, south of Durban, cast his rod several times on Monday afternoon, hoping to get lucky.
The fisherman became curious when he saw a strange object in the water and used his rod to pull it in.
“I thought it was a piece of plastic,” he said.
Then the horror hit him – he had caught a human leg with its pale foot still attached.
“I grabbed a piece of plastic to cover my hand and carefully pulled it out,” he said.
Gokul examined the foot and noticed that the toe nails were “neatly” cut and the pale flesh made it difficult to speculate on the race or gender of the person it belonged to.
He phoned the Wentworth police, who arrived and removed the limb.
On Tuesday specialist forensic pathologist Reggie Perumal, who has been practising in Durban for the past 25 years, said he had seen three similar cases.
”We once found a body with no head, I was able to determine, by examining the spine, that a very blunt instrument was used to sever the head.”
In this case of the foot, Perumal said:
“The pathologist will examine either the flesh or bone marrow to determine a DNA profile.”
The police said an inquest docket had been opened.
The Mercury
