Civil status brings ‘legally dead’ man back to life |15 December 2020

Mervin Etienne

In a staggering feat of resurrection, the civil status department has confirmed that it has rectified the curious case of a 30-year-old man who recently discovered that, according to the civil status, he had been dead since 1990.

Very much alive despite a death certificate that proved otherwise, Mervin Etienne learned of his supposed ‘death’ at the Seychelles Licensing Authority (SLA) when he was in the process of purchasing a car.

Principal secretary for civil status and immigration, Alain Volcère, noted that the erroneous death certificate stems from a confusion which happened in 1990 in relation to a certain Mr Louange, who had passed away around the same time.

PS Volcère noted that upon learning of the error, the civil status department worked to ‘rectify the issue’.

When asked how someone who supposedly passed away could acquire identification documents such as an ID card or passport, Mr Volcère noted that one only needs to present one’s birth certificate in person and the necessary forms to receive an ID card or passport.

But the victim of this grave mistake said he is not satisfied with such an abrupt rectification, adding that this does not mark the end of this debacle. Mr Etienne received the call from civil status office informing him of the rectification yesterday.

“I have been attempting to deal with this for almost a month. I have gone down there once and my lawyer has gone back and forth with the officials at the civil status. They themselves said that sorting this out will not be a straightforward process and will necessitate some investigation. Then all of a sudden, everything is sorted out in half a day when this information was publicised and shared on social media this morning,” provided a very skeptical Mr Etienne.

According to Mr Etienne, all of this does not add up and his lawyer, Alexia Amesbury, will be undertaking further queries on his behalf.

He further expressed his concerns on how he has been able to conduct his daily business over three decades without learning that he was legally dead, including voting on three occasions.

Mr Etienne has also applied and received a valid passport, declared his two children and went about his day-to-day life without a clue of his legal death.

Now, he seeks to investigate the implications of the death certificate on important issues such as his pension fund, which he has been paying throughout his working years, and social security benefits.

“I wonder how many such mistakes the civil status has in their system,” wondered Mr Etienne.

The 30-year-old said that not only is he sorely disappointed that he never got to buy what would have been his first car, but also noted that he has been morally affected by the incident especially since his mother recently passed away.

Elsie Pointe