WELLINGTON - A New Zealand funeral home has stepped in to stop a
fake mourner who was attending up to four funerals a week to stock
up on food, even filling up tupperware containers to take home,
according to media reports.
Harbour City Funeral Home director Danny Langstraat told local
newspaper The Dominion Post that the "grim eater" appeared at up to
four funerals a week in March and April to enjoy the finger food
but clearly did not know the deceased.
The funeral company grew so concerned that it took a photograph
of the man, thought to be aged in his 40s, and distributed the
picture to its branches.
"Certainly he had a backpack with some tupperware containers so
when people weren't looking, he was stocking up," Langstraat told
the newspaper.
He said the man was "always very quiet and polite, and did as
the rest of the mourners did in paying his respects."
Langstraat said the man stopped coming after one staff member
took him aside and told him he could come to funerals but could not
take food home with him.
Funeral Directors Association president Tony Garing told the
newspaper that such cases happened in the industry occasionally but
it was difficult to stop people from coming or call their behavior
theft because funerals were usually public events.