Two brothers who died hours apart laid to rest in a single grave

Johan Barnard held his two-week-old son’s tiny coffin tightly against his chest as he walked behind pallbearers carrying the flower-covered coffin of his eight-year-old boy.

Tears streamed down his face as the two small white caskets were placed on top of the other and lowered into a single grave at Sterkfontein Cemetery in Krugersdorp on Thursday afternoon.

The 37-year-old then bent over the grave to bid a final farewell to his firstborn, Dean, and baby JL, who died just hours apart.

Little Dean’s mom, Jackie Duvenage, burst into inconsolable sobs as she placed a teddy bear in the grave, while JL’s mother was also overcome with emotion.

The funeral service, held earlier the day at the local AGS church and livestreamed on TikTok, came after both boys died on June 4.

Dean, a pupil of Ebenaezer Primary, and JL were admitted to hospital with a lung infection.

The infection had been a complication of Shone’s complex, a rare congenital heart condition they were both born with that affects blood flow on the left side of the heart.

Speaking during the service, Pastor Paul de Vos said it was a sad affair, especially knowing both children had been innocent.

“Dean was apparently not a very healthy boy, but he was a busy little boy, and I am sure his parents, his grandma, and his teachers can attest to that,” De Vos said.

He recalled the last time he saw baby JL.

“The first time I saw JL, the little guy had a massive bush of hair, and I said to him ‘listen here, JL, I could really use some of that hair, give it to me’.” he said.

“And that was the very last interaction I had with him.”

Only days later, the brothers were being laid to rest together.

“Today we gathered here to say goodbye to them,” De Vos said.

“All of us here have two things in common: we are all human, and we are all going to die.

“Death doesn’t ask questions. It is an uninvited guest.”

He then cited John 11:33–35, a passage meant to show that even Jesus wept and shared in human grief, and that sorrow is part of being human.

A classmate of Dean also spoke, saying the school was devastated and struggling to come to terms with the loss.

She said they were fond of him and that the school loved him.

Family members, including Barnard, Liesel and Duvenage, as well as the boys’ grandmother, Magda, were too grief-stricken to speak at the funeral. 

In a previous interview with IOL, Duvenage described him simply as a happy child.

“He was a happy child, always, always happy,” she said. “I don’t even know how else to explain it. He was just happy.”

She said Dean had spent long stretches of his early life in and out of hospital, and had largely been raised by his grandmother Magda over the past few years. 

“He was strong… very strong,” Duvenage said.

“From the day he was born, through everything he went through, he never gave up. Never.”

Barnard, who had also spoken to IOL before the funeral, said the nightmare began on Wednesday last week.

He said both boys fell ill and were rushed to hospital after appearing jaundiced.

Baby JL was taken to Paardekraal Hospital after his mother Liesel rushed him in when his condition suddenly worsened.

By the time they arrived, JL had lost brain function due to oxygen deprivation.

Dean, meanwhile, was taken to Leratong Hospital as his condition also deteriorated.

The following day, while Barnard was on his way to visit his baby son, he received the call that JL had died.

“I just broke… I cannot even explain that feeling,” he said. 

He drove straight to Leratong Hospital, holding onto hope that he could take Dean home.

But that evening, at around eight, Dean also died.

“He was a joker,” Barnard said of Dean.

“He loved making people laugh and we loved him dearly. They were two lovely little children. We were a very close family.”

Dean would have turned nine in November.

“Both my boys were my bulletjies” Barnard said. “I miss them and I am trying to hold it together.”

IOL