TCI Funeral home responds to Sexual Assault matter

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 15, 2023 – A local funeral home is attempting to clear the air after one of its customers was reportedly publicly assaulted triggering an international investigation.  The owner is now denying that the alleged perpetrator was his employee and that the company was intentionally insensitive to the situation.

“Waking up to this message is very concerning to me and my team.  The gentleman you are speaking of has NO Affiliation with our Funeral Services.  We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior or any disrespectful behavior and we do not condone it.  We are taking this matter very seriously.  I wish I had known this sooner so that I could’ve dealt with it even on the day it happened.  However, this is no excuse for the harassment.  In the event of this, we humbly apologize!  An experience of that nature is very traumatizing.”

That was the message shared with the Magnetic Media news team following our coverage of the incident.  The owner says it was sent to the victim on November 30th, days after she reached out regarding the initial incident on November 4th.

The owner is adamant though that he did not ‘duck’ the conversation.  He says a busy schedule kept him from responding to the message immediately, and expressed that the woman would have had more luck contacting the office through which she booked the services to get a more swift response.

The woman, who has reported that she was groped by a strange man while at the gravesite of her brother, who had just been buried by a company she believes that man worked for.  She said the man who grabbed her was dressed in what appeared to be the uniform of the funeral home and in reaching the owner, the reply was not prompt though it had been on previous occasions.

The victim was frustrated that the owner only reached out after she posted her concerns to Facebook, in messages shared by Magnetic Media admitting this, he apologized for the late response citing his busy schedule.

“Someone forwarded me a post as well on Facebook.  That person does not work for me and I’m sorry that that happened– fellas try to do that foolish business here on the island but it has nothing to do with me or anyone else in my business.  I’m going to try to find out who that was– as far as I know they don’t work for me.”

He also showed us proof of him demanding answers from his workers minutes before he responded to the aggrieved woman.

The owner explains he has been cooperating with the police on the incident and is adamant that he would never cover up any assault or try to protect an abuser under his employ.

The reported victim for her part had been frustrated with what she described as a lack of response to the incident and has since reported the incident to the Royal TCI Police and the US Embassy.