Man shocked to death while fixing DStv dish on roof

Danie Henning, 33, was shocked to death on the roof of his Mpumalanga home on Saturday while trying to fix his DStv dish, reports Middelburg Observer.

His wife, Natasha, said she didn’t know why she and her children weren’t shocked the moment her husband was, adding that her son physically touched his father while he was being shocked.

They did, however, feel the vibrations from the electrical shock, and her daughter was shocked some time after the incident when she touched a ladder.

Natasha said she wasn’t exactly sure how her husband died, as she only found him on the roof on Saturday afternoon.

ALSO READ: Electrocuted teacher loses R35m damages lawsuit

He was at her place of work on Saturday morning and said he would be fetching a signal-tester from a friend, after which he said he planned to fix the DStv dish and lie down, as he said he wasn’t feeling well.

This was the last time she spoke to him.

“I didn’t call him, because I thought he was resting as he was not feeling well.”

Natasha arrived home shortly before 3pm and noticed the ladder leaning against the wall leading to the roof. She called out Danie’s name, but he didn’t answer, and she went inside the house to find him.

Their children, 7-year-old Danie Jnr and 8-year-old Danisha, in the meantime, asked if they could take a swim.

Natasha said she then had a sudden dizzy spell and lay on the bed. She decided to call a friend of her husband to find out where he was.

“At that stage, I thought he may have gone somewhere with someone.”

Danie Jnr suddenly ran into Natasha’s room and told her: “Daddy is asleep on the roof!”

Natasha went outside and climbed the ladder, with Danie Jnr in tow. The moment she reached the top of the ladder and touched the roof, she felt a jolt of electricity. But then she saw her husband, and crawled towards him.

Before she could stop him, Danie Jnr climbed onto the roof and braved the electricity vibrations to reach his dad.

“I didn’t want him to see his father like that, but it was too late. He had already seen him.”

According to Natasha, judging by a mark left on the DStv pole, it looked as though her husband could have been shocked when he touched it. “The electricity exited through his toes.”

Natasha said she could see her husband had already been dead for some time, and told her son to climb down and get help.

It was around this time that Danisha, who was on the ground, started crying hysterically.

“She was shocked the moment she touched the ladder.”

Natasha said she and Danie Jnr also felt the electric shocks as they crept closer to the ladder.

“I don’t understand how Danie died. My child and I were shocked, but weren’t seriously injured. We should have been dead as well.”

She suspects that he could have died anywhere between 10am and 3pm, as there was no one with him in the house during those times.

Natasha described her husband as a quiet person that would do anything for his family. “That is why he climbed on the roof to fix the DStv dish himself.”

The family only moved into the home in December.

Natasha indicated they were still awaiting an autopsy report, and also said the municipality would be investigating what may have caused the electric shock.

This article was translated from Afrikaans by Nica Schreuder. 

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.