By Crime and Courts Reporter – Police have arrested five Chinese nationals for the unlawful cremation of a body without consent from the deceased’s relatives.

The five individuals have been convicted and fined US$200 each by a Harare magistrate, Ruth Moyo.

Chen Ying, 44, Xia Wexing, 40, Guo Weilin, 32, Yan Qi, 36, and Wang Huasheng, 35, were convicted based on their own guilty pleas after admitting to cremating the body of Huang Tian Song.

Huang died on May 22 this year at the Trauma Centre in Harare.

In passing the sentence, Magistrate Moyo noted that the five “did not waste the court’s time and were quick to plead.”
Prosecutor Nomsa Kangara detailed the events, stating that on May 22, Huang Tian Song, a Chinese national, died at the Trauma Centre in Borrowdale, Harare.

The five accused, acting in common purpose, took the body to Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals for a post-mortem.

They then visited the Registrar General’s Office to acquire a burial order on May 22, 2024. Kangara explained:
“After obtaining the burial order, the accused connived and produced a false document in the form of an affidavit in Ying’s name, purporting to have been granted permission by the deceased’s relatives, and caused the body of the deceased to be cremated by Monson Funeral Parlour.”

The court ordered the five to pay the fine by June 7 or face three months of imprisonment.