Business owner to appear in court after funeral accessories stolen

A 50-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man will appear in court on Monday after he was found in possession of several funeral parlour items which he allegedly stole.

DURBAN, May 17 (ANA) – A 50-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man will appear in court on Monday after he was found in possession of several funeral parlour items which he allegedly stole.

The suspect was arrested by the KZN police on Saturday in Ulundi, in the Zululand district north-west of Durban, regional spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele confirmed.

This came after the police received a complaint from the manager of a well-established funeral parlour operating in the Ulundi area last Thursday.

The complainant claimed that the owner of another funeral parlour, who is also well known in the area, came to their shop and asked for a discounted price to buy a “dome-type coffin”.

The manager of the store denied the man’s request to buy the coffin.

“On the following day, in the morning, on arrival at the office, the complainant discovered that the storeroom was broken into.

“On checking she discovered that the dome coffin, green runner and two grave anchor crosses were missing,” Mbele said in a statement over the weekend.

After a case was opened at the Ulundi police station, an investigation led to the recovery of the stolen funeral items at the suspect’s office.

Mbele said that the suspect was immediately placed under arrest and taken to the Ulundi police station.

The 50-year-old suspect will be facing charges of possession of suspected stolen property.

The introduction of the Covid-19 pandemic has fuelled a rise in criminal cases revolving around funeral services, and according to the latest crime statistics released by the SAPS for the fourth quarter of 2020/2021, commercial crimes have seen a 41.9% increase.

The report also found that robberies at non-residential premises had increased by 85.7% since the last period.

– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher