A grieving East London family who had prepared to give a family member a dignified funeral on Saturday were horrified to learn they only had a head to bury and the body was being kept in another town by the police.
As the result, the funeral of Lihle Sokutu, 18, was delayed for more than four hours because the driver from Mpumakhwezi Funeral parlour had to drive 112km to fetch the rest of the body from Butterworth.
The remains had been lying in a state mortuary since April because police, who had opened a criminal investigation, had been conducting a postmortem.
East London police spokesperson Warrant Officer Hazel Mqala said the investigating officer was not answering his cellphone throughout Sunday.
A murder docket was opened by the police following the death of Sokutu and another young man, whose bodies were found at the base of a 100m cliff in Butterworth during a search and rescue operation.
The two were believed to have been abducted in Reeston on March 14, and tortured and killed before their bodies were dumped over a cliff at Manqulo Village in Butterworth. Sokutu had been beheaded.
Mpumakhwezi funeral parlour owner Tomley Moletsawe, 56, said: “We went to Woodbrooke mortuary on Thursday to fetch the body, only to get the head.
“Officials told us that the police were holding the body in Butterworth. My driver went to Butterworth on Friday but could not get the body because he forgot the paperwork. My driver forgot the death registration number because he was confused due to the horror.”..