'FUNERAL FRAUDSTER' FAMILIES DEMAND JUSTICE

'Court decision a slap in the face'

- GENEVIEVE SERRA

"IT DOES not mean the end." These were the words of the magistrate at the Kuils River Magistrate's Court yesterday, as she struck the matter off the roll against Kraaifontein funeral undertaker, Petrus Booysen.

Booysen made headlines in the Cape Argus in January when he was accused of burying people as paupers instead of cremating them, and issuing fake cremation certificates to families.

More than ten families broke their silence this year, saying their loved ones were not cremated but buried as paupers in Welmoed Cemetery in Kuils River.

In one case the family has yet to find their 94-year-old mother’s remains.

The police have since confiscated ashes from the families meant for DNA testing as part of the investigation.

But the families’ nightmare continued yesterday when the magistrate struck the matter off the roll provisionally to allow vital evidence such as the Western Cape High Court application for exhumations and DNA testing to be submitted.

Last month, Booysen’s legal team requested that the matter be set down for a final postponement due to the delay in evidence.

The magistrate yesterday hammered the State for not submitting the application to the High Court and for infringing on the rights of the victims and the accused.