Five Chinese In Court for Unauthorized Cremation of Compatriot
By Judith Nyuke
Five Chinese nationals have been arraigned before the courts after they caused the cremation of another Chinese national without the permission of the deceased’s relative.
Chen Ying (44), Xia Wenxing (40), Guo Weilin (32), Yan Qi (36), and Wang Huasheng (35) were presented before Harare Magistrate Ruth Moyo, charged with violating Section 17(2) of the Burial and Cremation Act (Chapter 5:03), accused of making false declarations and misrepresentations regarding cremation.
They pleaded guilty to the charge and were fined US$200 each.
The State proved that on 20 May 2024, a Chinese National, Huang Tian Song died at Trauma Centre, Borrowdale, Harare.
The five accused persons acting in common purpose arranged for a postmortem to be done on the deceased’s body at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
After the postmortem was done the accused approached officials from the Registar General’s Office where they applied for a burial order.
On 22 May 2024, after obtaining the burial order, the five accused persons who are all Chinese Nationals acting in common purpose, connived and produced a false document in a form of an affidavit in the name of accused [1] purporting to have been granted permission by deceased’s relatives and caused the body of the deceased to be cremated by Monson Funeral Directors.
Investigations done revealed that the accused had no permission from the relatives or anyone of authority to cause the body of the deceased to be cremated.
