Wife buries man without telling kids - Children want to exhume father's body

The children of a deceased Trelawny man are seeking permission from the State to exhume his body after he was buried by his wife without their knowledge.

One of the children, Joan Campbell, said that her father, George Campbell, 89, died on March 11, and she was informed by his 'estranged' wife that he was buried on April 27.

"He died at the St Ann's Bay Hospital, and the wife go for the medical certificate of the cause of death," Campbell said. "When I went to her and told her that I come to arrange my father's funeral, she said that mi father all right. Then after that we start to hear rumours that my father is buried."

She added: "We went to her with the police to find out if it was true, and she said, 'yes'. He asked her why she didn't inform us, and she said because she is the wife."

Not grant permission

According to attorney-at-law Bert Samuels, the wife has first options to take charge of funeral proceedings.

"She is entitled to the estate, so if she is a lawful wife, she has that authority, unfortunately," Samuels explained.

Campbell told THE STAR that she wants her father's body to be exhumed to give her and her other siblings a chance to ensure that their father gets a good burial.

But Samuels said that he is almost certain that the State will not grant permission for them to do so.

"The Government not going to give permission for that," Samuels said. "We only exhume for criminal investigations."

Meanwhile, director for the House of Tranquillity Funeral Home, Joseph Cornwall, told THE STAR that cases of this nature are not rare.

"These are things that we see happen all the time. Sometimes the wives even move the bodies if they feel like the funeral home are not on their sides," Cornwall explained.