Attorney-General’s department launches lawsuit against Old Noarlunga Cemetery and directors Bethaney and Darren Bacchus

Directors of a southern suburbs cemetery have been accused of deceptive conduct, after families were told they had to pay thousands in fees to preserve their burial rights.

A southern suburbs cemetery has been accused of deceptive and misleading conduct towards families for ordering them to pay thousands of dollars or lose their interment rights.

The Cemetery on the Hill in Old Noarlunga faces multiple claims of denying those rights and breaching the Cemeteries Act.

Documents lodged with the Supreme Court show the Attorney-General’s department is seeking compensation for affected clientsand wants fines to be imposed on Old Noarlunga and the directors of its holding company, Bethaney and Darren Bacchus.

The department also wants a declaration that all burial and interment rights were unchanged when the new owners bought the cemetery in 2020.

The lawsuit lists 11 people whose remains are interred in the cemetery and nine living people who have purchased burial rights.

Among the details of specific cases is a woman who the department alleges was told she would need to pay an extra $24,000 – on top of her initial payment of $1000 – for the right to have her body interred in the cemetery for 25 years, plus an additional $2100 burial fee.

In another case, a couple had already paid $1090 in 2014 for 25 years of interment rights.

In court documents, the department alleges that in April 2021 the couple received a letter with a partially-completed form instructing them that because of landscaping works they needed to repurchase their plot. The price would be either $2500 prior to May 6 or $4750 afterwards.

They were told that if they wanted to surrender their interment rights they would have their initial $1090 returned.

Compilation image – Old Noarlunga Cemetery and a notice posted on the cemetery.

Before February 27, 2020, the cemetery was operated by the Anglican Diocese of the Murray.

The cemetery was sold for $405,000 to Mr and Mrs Bacchus in September 2019 and five months later Old Noarlunga Pty Ltd became the registered proprietor of the land.

In July that year, the church transferred funds from its accounts, which had been deposited by people applying for interment rights, to Old Noarlunga.

The Attorney General’s Department claims the agreements purchased before the cemetery changed hands imparted a right to be buried or interred without being disturbed for as long as the agreements lasted.

Other cases referred to in the court documents include a mother who had the cremated remains of her son interred and was allegedly told that landscaping works would require the memorial being removed and his ashes moved.

A letter said that only a “token” amount of ashes would be recovered and the mother would be required to pay $215 for a new memorial, the department alleges.

A similar message was allegedly sent to a woman who had her parents buried at the site, informing her that their final resting place would be disturbed by the works and, once begun, the works would prevent them retrieving any ashes.

The Cemetery on the Hill was contacted for comment.

The case continues before the Supreme Court, which did not release any defence documents to the Sunday Mail.

Renewal of lease stickers placed on tombstones and plaques at Cemetery on the Hill at Old Noarlunga. Picture: Supplied