Little Enrico Snyders (Photo: Facebook)
The six-year-old boy who was found dead in the trunk of his parents’ car may have fallen asleep while playing there.
Enrico Snyders was found on March 26 in the trunk of the car on the family’s smallholding in the vicinity of Springs.
According to Esme Strauss, a long-time family friend who acts as a family spokesperson, the police told Marie and Willem Snyders, Enrico’s parents, that it looks like he was playing with toys in the trunk and may have fallen asleep. There were no signs of him desperately fighting to get out of the trunk.
The exact cause of his death, whether it was possibly due to suffocation or heat exhaustion, will only be known once the post-mortem report is available.
No crime is suspected and the dossier of the judicial investigation into Enrico’s death will now be sent to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) for a decision.
A box with Enrico’s ashes was handed over to his parents on Thursday. Solidarity Helping Hand’s therapy center will start counseling for Enrico’s parents and sister next week.
On the Sunday afternoon in question, Enrico asked his mother if he could go play outside. Later, when she calls out to Enrico and he doesn’t answer, his parents go outside to look for him.
“They couldn’t find him. They got into the car to check if he might have wandered off. That’s when Enrico’s mom saw a piece of material sticking out of the trunk. They opened the trunk and found Enrico inside,” Strauss said earlier.
The parents immediately rushed their youngest to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Enrico was a gr. 1-learner at Jan van Riebeeck Primary School in Springs.
“He was just a loving child, full of life,” recalls Strauss. “He was just this beautiful boy.”
