FRUSTRATION?has?been added to the grief of a family who buried their loved one a year ago only to discover that the body was placed in the wrong grave.
Cousins Malcolm McClean and Sharon Matthews have been agonizing over the length of time it is taking officials to rectify the situation.
McClean explained that his sister Maureen Harewood was buried on May 27, 2010, in what they thought was the family plot at Westbury Cemetery.
However, it was Matthews who realized during the burial that they were not standing on the spot where they had been for the burials of four other family members.
“I was feeling uneasy at the funeral and I kept saying to myself, this is not the right spot. I went home and looked at the photographs of other family burials and I realised it was not the same spot. Quick so, we went to Westbury Cemetery and told them it was the wrong grave and I carried the pictures to prove it,” Matthews stated.
The cousins said a staff member at the cemetery took up a document and walked outside to the graves.
“She counted off the graves and the names and she told us it was an error – our grave was number 1778, but the body was placed in 1822. She told us that it would take about three months for the body to be placed in the right grave.”
Matthews said they waited and waited and three months turned into nine months and still they heard nothing from the staff member.
McClean said when he and his cousin protested they were told that they would also be allowed to keep the wrong plot.
“I told them that the only plot we wanted was the one where all of our family members were buried,” he stated.
A frustrated Matthews said it was then they were informed that they would have to take their case to Supervisor of Cemeteries Ricky Cummins.
“You mean to tell me that this is a year and we spent $15 000 to bury her and all they have been doing is giving us the runaround? The family is very upset!” Matthews declared.
He pointed out that the grave had been in the family for more than 60 years.
“My father, my mother and my nephew are buried there and we want all of our family to be buried there,” he cried.
Public relations officer Carl Padmore explained that the matter had only been drawn to his attention this week. He reported that Cummins was out of the island and was scheduled to return on Monday.
However, Padmore said he met with the family and the matter would be investigated so that it could be speedily resolved.
