'A living hell': Family of man cremated wrongly sues funeral companies for over S$225,000
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BY
LYDIA LAM
Published August 21, 2023Updated August 21, 2023
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SINGAPORE — The family of an 82-year-old man who was cremated after Christian instead of Taoist funeral rites launched a civil suit against funeral service providers on Monday (Aug 21), seeking S$225,000 in general damages.
The late Mr Kee Kin Tiong's body had been retrieved by an employee of Harmony Funeral Care on Dec 30, 2019, and mistaken for another person, Mr Chia Soon Chuan.
Mr Kee received Christian funeral rites intended for Mr Chia, and was cremated. The family was left with no body to conduct a funeral wake with, in accordance with Taoist funerary rites, the plaintiffs said in their opening statement.
The plaintiffs, who comprise Mr Kee's children and his granddaughter, are seeking S$225,000 in general damages, as well as other sums such as S$2,257.70 for psychiatric consultations and S$14,000 for "future grief therapy".
Mr Kee's family members allege that they have suffered mental distress, trauma and persistent complex bereavement disorder.
In their affidavits, they described life as being "a living hell" for them in the past few years.
They are represented by lawyers Andrew Wong, Eunice Chua and Patrick Tan from Fortis Law.
There are four defendants in this case: Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker, the funeral business hired to arrange for Mr Kee's funeral and cremation; Century Products Company, where Mr Kee's body was embalmed; Harmony Funeral Care, a funeral business that also used the same embalming studio; and Mr Nicholas Ang Kai, the employee who retrieved the wrong body.
WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY
According to the opening statements of the plaintiffs and defendants, Mr Kee died on Dec 29, 2019.His family hired Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker to collect Mr Kee's body, arrange for embalming and deliver it for the funeral.
An employee of Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker brought Mr Kee's body to the embalming studio operated by Century Products Company.
An experienced embalmer performed the procedures for Mr Kee's body, and left it in the studio to be delivered to the family the next morning.
Separately, Harmony Funeral Care instructed its employee, Mr Ang, to collect the body of another man, Mr Chia, to send for cremation.
Mr Ang's lawyers said he had been working for only two months and was not given any formal training or standard operating procedures.
He mistakenly collected Mr Kee's body instead of Mr Chia's.
Mr Kee's family were "irreversibly denied the opportunity to say their final goodbyes", as they were left with no body to conduct a funeral wake for, the plaintiffs' lawyers said.
They said this was a result of Tan Khiam Soon Undertaker's breach of contract, the negligence of the embalming studio and Mr Ang, and Harmony Funeral Care's "vicarious liability" for Mr Ang's negligence.
GRANDDAUGHTER TAKES STAND
Mr Kee's granddaughter, Ms Adeline Kee, took the stand on Monday and was grilled by the defendants' lawyers on her alleged psychiatric symptoms and claims of how the defendants were not "sorry".Ms Kee said a deceased person should be mourned for at least three days before cremation, according to Taoist tradition.
This ensures he has a smooth journey into the afterlife. Without proper procedures, "it's our belief the soul will still remain in the body", she said.
Mr Darren Tan, lead counsel for Harmony Funeral Care along with Mr Silas Siew and Mr Anthony Shane Yeo, asked Ms Kee if she remembered how the funeral service providers had offered apologies to her family, including ritual apologies using joss sticks.
Ms Kee mostly said she could not remember, or that her aunts and uncles handled the issues. She said she recalled one of the defendants "only (caring) about her business" and accusing the family of making "so many phone calls".
The trial continues. CNA
