A Bonteheuwel family are demanding answers after their eight-month-old baby at crèche was rushed to hospital and died.
Mogammat Qiran Canterbury passed away on Friday afternoon after he was taken to Vanguard Day Hospital.
It is believed that the infant had been sleeping before his teachers noticed something was wrong.
Qiran had been attending Linda’s Day Care in Bontas for the past two months.
Dad Tashreeq, 22, said he and his wife Zaidah were both at work when he received a call from the crèche that his son was in the hospital.
“When I got there, I found out that my baby had passed away. As the doctors explained it, when the teachers got there from the crèche, he was already dead.”
Police spokesperson Wesley Twigg said that the toddler's sudden death is being investigated.
“Bishop Lavis police registered an inquest for investigation following the death of a baby at a hospital on Friday,” Twigg added.
“The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation.
“A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death.”
A heartbroken Zaidah, 23, told the Daily Voice that her child was healthy.
“I wouldn’t send my sick child to the crèche,” she explained.
“I didn’t even get a chance to see him before he passed on. I didn’t get to say my goodbyes properly, I honestly don’t know how to feel.”
Qiran’s janaazah was held on Saturday.
“To see my baby after the autopsy, the way his brain was cut, the way his throat was cut. He had no tongue in his mouth,” a sobbing Zaidah explained.
The owner of the day care is believed to have blocked Zaidah on WhatsApp.
Zaidah claimed that on Saturday she sent a message asking if she could collect Qiran’s property from the day care, but by yesterday had still not got a reply.
The couple have now decided to remove their two-year-old daughter from the crèche.
When the Daily Voice reached out to the crèche owner, Linda Teenhuisen, she didn’t answer any cellphone calls.
Asked for comment via WhatsApp, she replied: “No comment until the autopsy results.”
Tashreeq added: “She did not even have the decency to come to us to explain. She hasn’t said anything.”
Meanwhile, Qiran’s ouma Tasneenah said his bubbly presence will sorely be missed in the home.
“He was a jolly baby, he would make baby sounds and all that stuff,” the emotional granny said.