Woman's remains removed after three weeks of burial at Awudome cemetery
Drama unfolded at the Awudome Cemetery yesterday when the members of a family realised that the body of their 92-year-old mother which had been buried at the cemetery three weeks ago had been removed without their knowledge.
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Mrs Comfort Brenya, whose death occurred on May 30, had been buried at the Awudome Cemetery on July 16, this year.
Body exhumed
Mrs Eugenia Akuete, a daughter of the late Mrs Brenya, told the Daily Graphic that the family had contracted someone to work on the tombstone, but when the person got to the graveside on Thursday, he was told that the body had been removed and relocated.
“I was shocked beyond measure and so I enquired from officials of the cemetery who were around, only to be told that the body had been relocated. We had paid for the tomb and made all arrangements and so I could not understand why the body had to be relocated without consulting us.
“I smell foul play somewhere because when I had requested on Thursday that the tomb ought to be cast with concrete, they resisted, saying that I should leave it and that nothing would happen.
“But less than two weeks after burial, I do not even know the circumstances under which the body was exhumed and what has happened to it. Someone ought to answer some questions,” she stressed.
Observation
The Daily Graphic observed that the tomb in which the late Mrs Brenya had reportedly been buried had actually been tampered with.
It was also observed that a nearby grave had an epitaph bearing the name Mrs Brenya.
‘It was a mistake’
When the Sexton in charge of the Awudome Cemetery, Mr Prince Otoo, was contacted on the issue, he admitted that the body had been relocated by the cemetery authority.
He explained that the decision to relocate the body of the late Mrs Brenya was taken after it was realised that the grave in which it was buried had not reached the maturity period of 10 years.
Explaining further, he stated that it was the culture at the Awudome Cemetery that after 10 years of burial, tombs were cleared to make way for new bodies to be buried in them.
Mrs Akuete examining her mother’s ‘looted’ grave
In the case of the late Mrs Brenya, Mr Otoo explained that the workers at the cemetery who were detailed to do the burial mistakenly buried the body in a grave that was just three years old and which had not met the maturity period.
“After the body was mistakenly buried there, the relatives of the person who was initially buried there came to us demanding that they wanted to raise a tombstone, so we had no option but to relocate the latter,” he indicated.
No records
One thing that was clear was the lack of proper record-keeping, as Mr Otoo indicated that the authorities could not establish contact with the late Mrs Brenya’s family to tell them about the development before the body was relocated.
Mrs Akuete, who doubted the sexton’s explanation about the turn of events, asked the body to be exhumed to be sure that It had not been tampered with.
When the casket was opened, it was observed that the body had not been tampered with.
Even though the body was intact, Mrs Akuete, who could not hold back her tears, said she could not trust the cemetery authorities with the protection of her mother’s tomb.