New Zealand

Funeral food scavenger described as insensitive

15:04 pm on 3 June 2010

Funeral directors describe the behaviour of a man who attended several services a week, filling tupperware containers with food, as cold and insensitive.

The man has been told to stop coming to services arranged by a Wellington funeral home.

Funeral directors say serial funeral-goers and fake mourners are not uncommon.

They are often lonely, elderly people who attend, seeking company and a cup of tea.

However, Harbour City Funeral Home director Danny Langstraat says this man carried a backpack containing tupperware containers.

He attended up to four funerals a week over a period of about two months, even appearing visually upset.

Since being told to stop, he has not been back to Harbour City Funeral Home services.

Because funerals are public events, the Funeral Directors Association says there is no real way of policing who should or should not be there.