Cremation mix-up leaves family searching for missing body of 94-year-old mom
Cape Town - A nightmare has come true for a Cape Town family as the body of their 94-year-old mother remains missing six months after they believed she was cremated and given a stranger’s ashes - only to later be told she was buried a pauper, and then discover that someone else was in fact inside her grave.
The family said they were told by police and officials that they would have to cough-up the cost for an exhumation, DNA test and a second funeral in order to find closure after what happened to their mother, Rachel Trussell, who died on August 18, 2024.
The family said they felt it was the responsibility of the state and City to provide payment for the services, who relied on them to build the case against undertaker, Petrus Booysen, of St Francis Funeral Services in Kraaifontein.
Booysen was arrested last week by detectives.
The State is set to prove he allegedly issued fraudulent cremation certificates and apparently buried five people as paupers instead of cremating them.
Booysen made his first appearance in the Kuils River Magistrate’s Court on Friday on five charges of fraud and was granted R1 500 bail.
He is expected back in the dock on March 14. Trussell’s family were present inside the courthouse.
Trussell is one of the five persons whom police and the State believe was allegedly buried in a pauper grave in Welmoed Cemetery in Kuils River.
It had been Trussell’s family’s determination to find answers about what happened to their mother, that raised the suspicion of City officials and the police.
On Friday, the Cape Argus exclusively reported the heart-wrenching story of Anita Momberg from Kuils River, who discovered that her 66-year-old mother, Tersia Murray, who died of Cancer in August 2024, had been buried a pauper instead of being cremated.
Trussell’s family met with the Cape Argus on Sunday, armed with a case file of evidence they had gathered - a paper trail showcasing “fraudulent” and incomplete City documents, which had allegedly been prepared by officials and Booysen.
Trussell’s granddaughter, Wendy Damon and daughter, Freda Fortune, said their suspicions were raised shortly after receiving three cremation certificates.
Trussell died inside hospital and her funeral service was conducted on August 24, 2024, and she was expected to be cremated on August 27.
By September 11, the family received what they believed was their mother’s ashes but did not have a cremation certificate, only an apparent reference number, which they later learnt belonged to another deceased person.
“I even placed candles around these ashes believing it was my mother’s,” said Fortune.
The two relatives began calling Booysen repeatedly and eventually contacted Maitland Crematorium, who said they had been trying to reach him and their suspicions were raised.
Fortune said the family emailed the first cremation certificate to City officials in order to book the family plot for the burial of the ashes, which was set for November 3.
They soon discovered that the dates on the cremation certificates were incorrect, as the first two stated the cremation had taken place on August 24, the same date of her funeral service, and the third on September 9.
Fortune said to their horror and despair, they learnt their mother had never been cremated and was buried a pauper, but that her body was also missing.
They later learnt that her body had only been removed from Blackheath Mortuary by September 26, after the other persons were buried as paupers at Welmoed Cemetery.
The family said they learnt via police that Booysen had allegedly asked a cemetery worker to exhume the body of Trussell from a pauper grave, claiming he had buried her by mistake instead of cremating her, but the worker refused saying he could lose his job.
“We want to know where our mother is,” said Fortune.
“We were told we must pay for the DNA testing, the exhumation and the second funeral.
“I said that can never be right? How can the family be expected to pay that cost, it should fall on the City.
“If he (Booysen) only removed her body on September 26, 2024, from Blackheath Cemetery, whose body was buried in the grave the City records shows as our mother’s?”
Damon said she applied for access to information via the City and received documentation pertaining to the burial, cremation and death records, and was horrified to find that many forms were incomplete.
The City confirmed the matter was being investigated by police and said they would not be commenting at this stage.
SAPS spokesperson, FC van Wyk, confirmed Booysen was facing five counts of fraud.