Please help us bring Andy home
Donation protected
It is with desperate sadness that we as a family are writing these words. On Friday 16th October we got the devastating news that Andy Bergin, our treasured Brother, loving Uncle and doting father lost his life. We can’t believe this has happened and words cannot describe the grief that we are feeling as a family, as Andy’s death has been in suspicious circumstances.
In 2016 following the end of a traumatic marriage to Fernandez who he’d met at work, he decided to embark on a new life in France. The family had regular contact with him and then one day nothing, no calls were being answered, he had gone off social media and his mobile phone was disconnected. As family members we were concerned so went through various channels to try and find his whereabouts. We ended up locating him in South Africa, where he was living with a lady. However, we were never able to make contact with him and had to always go through her to talk to him, he never sounded himself on the phone but he always assured us he was happy.
Nothing could be further from the truth, when we received news of how Andy died, it turned out that he was covered in bruises which could not be explained and he died of cardiac failure. When his wife (who we can not name due to legal reasons) was questioned she was unable to tell us what happened to him and this was the start of a string of lies she fed us. We contacted a journalist in South Africa who put us in contact withvarious people and we then discovered that Andy had fallen badly and rather than take him to the hospital for medical treatment he was put to bed and later sadly passed away.
Whilst dealing with his death and trying to contact the embassy to find out how we could bring him home his wife, without any permission from the family, decided to bury him. Again the lies kept coming and she told us they were married and that she was grieving and wanted to bury him in South Africa. We later found out that their wedding was a sham, it was staged to make him believe they were married and from the time she had met him, had been slowly siphoning money from his bank account to unknown sources, until this was empty. Andy had a house built in South Africa and this is in her name as she claims he was unable to have it in his name as he was not a South African citizen. This was Andy’s life savings of over £170,00, which he had worked hard all his life for from the age of 16 starting as a deckhand for an offshore company and working his way up to a manager until his retirement.
We tried to get the local police involved and they were very forthcoming, in helping us and were trying to get his body exhumed so we could get a full autopsy with toxicology reports as we feel that Andy was there against his will and used for his money until this ran out. This lead has now gone cold.
We can’t believe we are writing this about him, it just isn’t right....this world is wicked sometimes, causing so much grief and utter sadness. Everyone feels beyond sad and completely empty. We all loved him from the bottom of our hearts. An incredible man, who had the most kindest and calming nature, he never had a bad word to say about anyone or anything......an extraordinary human being.
We have been in contact with a solicitor in South Africa who deals with repatriation and he can help us bring Andy home, but this is going to be so expensive. As a family we are able to pool together some money but do not have enough to cover all these fees. Please help us bring Andy home, so that we can say goodbye in a manner fitting to this amazing man and have a final resting place for him in England with his family.
Much Love
The Bergin Family x x
In 2016 following the end of a traumatic marriage to Fernandez who he’d met at work, he decided to embark on a new life in France. The family had regular contact with him and then one day nothing, no calls were being answered, he had gone off social media and his mobile phone was disconnected. As family members we were concerned so went through various channels to try and find his whereabouts. We ended up locating him in South Africa, where he was living with a lady. However, we were never able to make contact with him and had to always go through her to talk to him, he never sounded himself on the phone but he always assured us he was happy.
Nothing could be further from the truth, when we received news of how Andy died, it turned out that he was covered in bruises which could not be explained and he died of cardiac failure. When his wife (who we can not name due to legal reasons) was questioned she was unable to tell us what happened to him and this was the start of a string of lies she fed us. We contacted a journalist in South Africa who put us in contact withvarious people and we then discovered that Andy had fallen badly and rather than take him to the hospital for medical treatment he was put to bed and later sadly passed away.
Whilst dealing with his death and trying to contact the embassy to find out how we could bring him home his wife, without any permission from the family, decided to bury him. Again the lies kept coming and she told us they were married and that she was grieving and wanted to bury him in South Africa. We later found out that their wedding was a sham, it was staged to make him believe they were married and from the time she had met him, had been slowly siphoning money from his bank account to unknown sources, until this was empty. Andy had a house built in South Africa and this is in her name as she claims he was unable to have it in his name as he was not a South African citizen. This was Andy’s life savings of over £170,00, which he had worked hard all his life for from the age of 16 starting as a deckhand for an offshore company and working his way up to a manager until his retirement.
We tried to get the local police involved and they were very forthcoming, in helping us and were trying to get his body exhumed so we could get a full autopsy with toxicology reports as we feel that Andy was there against his will and used for his money until this ran out. This lead has now gone cold.
We can’t believe we are writing this about him, it just isn’t right....this world is wicked sometimes, causing so much grief and utter sadness. Everyone feels beyond sad and completely empty. We all loved him from the bottom of our hearts. An incredible man, who had the most kindest and calming nature, he never had a bad word to say about anyone or anything......an extraordinary human being.
We have been in contact with a solicitor in South Africa who deals with repatriation and he can help us bring Andy home, but this is going to be so expensive. As a family we are able to pool together some money but do not have enough to cover all these fees. Please help us bring Andy home, so that we can say goodbye in a manner fitting to this amazing man and have a final resting place for him in England with his family.
Much Love
The Bergin Family x x
Organizer
Michelle Bergin
Organizer
