Brenda Scriven’s family take heartbreaking decision
The Sunningdale resident was swept away in flash floods in July last year.
THE family of Sunningdale resident, Brenda Scriven, have taken an emotional and heart-breaking decision to begin the legal process to declare her dead. The local resident and mother of three was washed away in flood waters in July last year.
Several search and rescue operations were conducted with the Durban SAPS K9 unit heading up a number of sweeps for a month. Hundreds of local residents also assisted the family in the search.
Her daughter, Lindy-Leigh Swales, said this had been a tumultuous week leading up to the decision.
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The family made an application at the Durban High Court earlier this week.
“For us as a family, to relive this has been extremely tough. We wanted some closure. At this stage we know the likelihood of ever finding her is non-existent. Some of the rescuers have suggested she may be buried under collapsed sand or has been swept out to sea. My mom was involved in all of our lives and it’s a heartbreaking decision to make. We need to do this to start the legal process to declare my mother dead,” an emotional Lindy-Leigh said.
She thanked all those who helped look for her mother saying she drew strength from the hundreds of messages on Facebook and other social media platforms.
“The support and love from the community has been unbelievable. They’ve given us strength in these tough times and they’ve gone out of their way to help where they can. People we’ve never met also send beautiful messages, it’s incredibly heartwarming,” she said.
Read Also: Meet some of the silent heroes of the Brenda Scriven search
In honour of Scriven, her family have begun a non profit organisation, K9’s for Brenda, to support public and private search and rescue K-9 units in honour of Brenda Scriven.
The final decision on the declaration of Scriven’s presumed death will be made in July.
