Funeral parlour sawed off corpse’s legs

File photo

File photo

Published Jun 6, 2014

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Port Elizabeth - An undertaker who ordered staff to saw off the legs of a corpse because it was too tall to fit into a coffin, has appeared in court charged with mutilation.

Ronel Mostert, who ran a funeral parlour in Grahamstown, appeared in Grahamstown Magistrate's Court on Wednesday after one of her employees blew the lid on a three-year-old secret.

Mostert allegedly ordered staff “to get an angle grinder and cut off the legs” because the 33-year-old “man was too tall to fit into the coffin,” according to court documents.

The employee, Siphamandla Dyasi, claimed the incident had been haunting him and so he decided to come clean.

“I still hear the sound of the angle grinder in my head. I could not take it anymore,” he said in written testimony. “For all these years I have had difficulties sleeping.”

He alleged that Mostert had threatened them with dismissal if he told anyone about incident.

The remains of the man have been exhumed as part of the police investigation. They showed burn marks where the legs had been sawn off.

Police told AFP more allegations of corpse mutilation at Mostert's Siyakubonga Funeral Services had surfaced since the case began last month.

The case has been postponed until June 27 for further investigation.

Sapa-AFP

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