A family who recently lost their son stopped his funeral when they discovered that his manhood was missing.

The shocking incident happened in Daveyrown, South Africa, and the family alleges that their son’s body was mutilated and violated at the funeral parlour.

The grieving parents, Portia and Bellium Tjale made the unseemly discovery when they went to wash their 18-year-old son’s body. After discovering that his manhood was missing, they refused to take the disfigured body.

According to South African publication Daily Sun, relatives and neighbours also blocked funeral parlour workers from taking the tent, chairs and other items. They declared that they would hold the property as security until the owner of the funeral parlour refunded them their R30 000.

Speaking to the publication, Mpho’s grieving mother Portia (39) said,

“My son’s body was collected from home with every body part intact, but some parts are now missing. Why is that?”

Portia alleged that the funeral parlour which collected Mpho’s body did not have cold storage. As a result, they transferred the body to another parlour. She later discovered that Mpho’s manhood was missing at the second parlour.

She went on to say that the owners of the second parlour tried to hide the issue by telling her not to come.

“The same funeral parlour owner and his wife then even contacted me again to convince me not to come because I suspect they saw something was not right. My son deserves to be buried with dignity and not to be subjected to such disrespect,” she said.

Portia’s husband, Bellium, (48) added,

“My son suffered and the next thing he was disrespected. Mpho was epileptic and had autism.”

The grieving parents reported the matter to the Daveyton police, who have since opened a case of violation of a corpse.

However, the two parents allege that the police told them to bury their sons’ body despite the missing manhood.