Cleaning up a crime scene is no easy task, but someone has to do it, says Riana Pelser from Secunda

It takes a strong person and stomach to clean up a crime scene.

For the most one would see investigators, police, ambulance service, and security… but what happens when they have all left the scene? Who cleans up?

That is where our very own local chairperson and volunteer at Curamus Victims Support Center, Riana Pelser, comes in.

In a one-on-one exclusive, Pelser told the Ridge Times how she became involved in crime scene clean-ups and what scenes stand out for her.

Cleaning up of scenes is not something Curamus used to do as they are more involved in trauma counselling, however, volunteers over the years had seen the demand and have taken it upon themselves to clean up scenes where needed.

Pesler explained one of the scenes where a victim had been taken to hospital by paramedics but had died. At the house where the victim had attempted suicide, was a bloodied scene.

“When I got to the scene, my main purpose was to assist the family with counselling. Once police and emergency services left, the father of the victim asked what would happen to the bloodied room.

“My first thought was that I could not leave the family with the room in that state. I went into their kitchen, took all the chemicals I could get my hands on and put on gloves that I had with me,” said Pelser.

She had moved every piece of furniture for her to clean everywhere and with the help of another volunteer, a bloodied mattress was removed from the property.

“Everything was cleaned from floor to ceiling. This was my first scene.

“Ever since, when we arrive at a scene, we speak to the people and ask if we can help clean up,” said Pelser.

From what she has heard, a cleaning team would be called in from Pretoria which would take days before any clean-up would be done.

“We wait for everyone to leave the scene. Once the undertaker has removed the body, we begin the cleaning up.

“It is only human to want to help the grieving parties. There is nothing worse than leaving the grieving families to face a bloodied room.”

Cleaning up does not only consist of the bloodied scene. In some cases, Pelser also has to clean up bodily fluids such as urine and faeces in cases of natural death.

“In a natural death, the deceased’s muscles are relaxed. Everything that is inside of the deceased comes out whether it be mucus, urine or faeces,” said Pelser.

She said for grieving families, the last thought is getting someone in to clean up a scene and that is where Curamus comes in.

“I make it my point to stay until the end. If there is something that needs to be cleaned up, I will clean it for them. I will not leave until the family is okay and the scene is cleaned up,” said Pelser.

Pelser said the most common scenes attended to locally are suicide and murder scenes.

“When I speak to the people and ask if I can clean up for them, most of the time the thought had not crossed their mind and their response is always they have not even thought of the cleaning up.

“Many times the grieving ones do not expect us to do this, but for me, it is done with pleasure because I can not leave them with the mess,” said Pelser.

This is a job that definitely takes a strong stomached person and one that can handle any situation, whether it be bloodied or in other cases decomposition.

Pelser use to work in a hospital in the cancer unit and death and the smell of death is not something that easily puts her off.

She also taught herself how to clean up scenes and through the years had learnt her lesson in being more equipped with certain gear when attending scenes.

“I had to teach myself. I never had training.”

She said that it takes a while to get the smell out of one’s system when it comes to attending scenes of decomposition.

“You have to handle every scene carefully. You need to make sure that every spot of blood, even splatter on walls is completely removed. We don’t want the grieving parties to be triggered at the sight of blood that has not been cleaned up.

“With the years of experience, you go into a mode where the scene is not about you but the grieving families at hand. You can not get emotionally involved,” concluded Pelser.