Wrong body buried

A day after Cynthia Innis arrived from Florida for her father's funeral, which is scheduled for tomorrow, she wasted little time in heading to the funeral home in Trelawny to ensure that all was in order for the final send-off.

But Cynthia was in for a shocker. The body of her father, Melvin Innis, 88, was mistakenly buried last Saturday.

"I ironed his clothes and took them to the funeral home. They pulled out Fritty, saying it was my father. I nearly died. I know Fritty, and immediately recognised what had happened, " she said, fighting back the tears.

Fritty is the name which Lascelle Ferguson, 64, is called in his community of Deeside, where Innis also lived.

They died a month apart Innis on September 8, and Ferguson on August 9.

At Fritty's funeral last Saturday, at least two persons were convinced that the funeral home had prepared the wrong body for burial.

"I told them from Saturday that the body in the coffin was not Uncle Fritty. I pointed out to my mother who agreed," Geovani Bartley, nephew of Fritty, told THE WEEKEND STAR.

FURIOUS

Following the service at the New Testament Church of God in Deeside, undertakers buried the wrong body in the Blackwin Cemetery.

That body, however, should be buried in Innis' yard in Deeside, where a vault has already been prepared in the family plot, next to his wife's grave.

His daughter, Cynthia, is furious.

She said that a representative from the funeral home has recommended that after the body is exhumed, the family could consider cremation.

"I told them point blank that I want the body of my father the way they got him so he can be buried at the family plot beside his wife, as he wished," she said.

Meanwhile, Fay Ferguson, the widow of Fritty, who will now have to consider a second funeral, is at a loss for words.

"Right now, I don't know what to say. The family is in discussions with the funeral home. We will just have to take him and bury the body," she said.

Efforts to contact the funeral home for a comment were unsuccessful up to press time last night.

In the meantime, Superintendent Winston Milton, head of the Trelawny police, said that his team is aware of the incident. He said that no request has been made to dig up Innis' body.

"A request for exhumation has to come from the health office first and then we can make plans for exhumation," he said.

And Dr Taneisha Bailey, medical officer of health for Trelawny, said there was no request for the exhumation of the body.

"There are requirements that have to be followed. The police and the municipality have to be informed. The exhumation of any body has to be done between the hours of 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. With no request on hand, the exhumation cannot be done today," she said yesterday.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

In a previous version of this article, Geovani Bartley, the nephew of Lascelle Ferguson, was inaccurately quoted as stating that he was shut down by relatives after suggesting that the body might not be that of his uncle.

We regret the error and apologize for any inconvenience caused.