Crime scene duo clean up
The duo are professionally trained to clean up even the goriest of crime scenes, leaving no trace behind.
POLOKWANE – Cleaning up the area where a loved one has died is often unthinkable to most people, yet it is something many had to do because there was no one else.
For Yana Mockford and Bonnita Becker from the 24h Crime Scene Clean-up business, what other people won’t do, is their daily job. They are professionally trained to clean up even the goriest of crime scenes, leaving no trace behind.
“The scenes vary greatly from murder scenes to suicides and everything in between. We have an array of chemicals best suited to clean the area along with the necessary safety gear to protect ourselves,” Mockford explained.
“Our head office is in Pretoria and we only recently started our Limpopo branch. We have encountered some scenes that would have even the most seasoned veteran run to the hills since we started late last year.”
When Review asked them how they process these scenes they encounter emotionally, their answer was to not think about the people who died but to rather approach it as a scene that simply needs to be cleaned up.
“We went on numerous courses to prepare us for what we might encounter and how to clean it up. The job itself isn’t just simply cleaning, there are also potentially dangerous situations that come with this gruesome job. We once had to clean up a scene where a man had died and his body had gone undiscovered for some time. Imagine the kind of work that goes into fixing up a maggot-infested apartment where a guy died months ago and was only discovered after his liquified corpse began dripping into the light fixtures of the apartment below,” Becker explained.
Mockford said they also carry evidence bags in their clean-up kits as it might happen that a crime scene was so gruesome, that police missed some of the evidence during their investigation. “We then collect this evidence and hand it over to them to aid in their investigation,” she said.
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Asked how the idea to start the business came about, Mockford explained that she used to watch the show, How Clean is your Crime Scene and wondered if there were similar companies in South Africa and Polokwane.
She did some research and found 24h Crime Scene Clean-up in Pretoria. She approached them with the idea of opening a branch in Limpopo to which they agreed and they went on the required training.
“The job itself has its challenges, only one of which is having a strong stomach to deal with an especially gory scene where for example the body might be in an advanced stage of decomposition. Aside from that, you also have to be a compassionate person because you will sometimes interact with families or friends of the person whose crime scene you have to clean up. It is important to give them the peace of mind that everything with regard to the clean-up will be taken care of in the most difficult time of their life,” Mockford said.
