For ten years, parents Tom-Rune and Lone Sveum have missed and thought about their beloved boy, taken far too soon.
Svein-Erik Sveum Bertelsen was only seven and a half years old when he drowned in a tragic accident in the summer of 2008.
“We always think about how he would have been today. He was a really tough boy,” dad Tom-Rune told Norwegian source TV2.
Svein-Erik was an energetic child who was fond of dragons and cartoon characters such as Shrek.
As a result, on his headstone, Lone and Tom-Rune placed a small dragon figurine. The son had played with the toy often and so his parents thought it right to leave it with him.
The toy didn’t remain there long, however, as it was stolen after just a couple of years.
Besides dragons, Svein-Erik was also fond of swords. One sword in particular, in fact – one that he had got on a trip to Legoland.
Just as with the dragon, his parents placed it at the grave.
“Because of what happened to the dragon, I made sure the sword was there properly. I mounted it on a reinforced bracket and hammered it down so it would be stuck,” Tom-Rune explained.
And so the sword remained in place for a long time.
However, when the parents and Svein-Erik’s grandmother paid a visit on Monday they realised something was missing. The sword had been stolen.
Worry and anger
At first, Tom-Run was furious. Anger boiled inside him, only for the emotions to dissipate into sadness and disappointment.
“It’s absolutely incredible. I don’t understand how it is possible,” he said. “This time, they must have really struggled with it. A small child could not have removed it, so it must have been an adult, maybe two. I hammered the bracket down 30-40 centimetres, but it’s still been torn up.”
Mom Lone also wrote a Facebook post explaining what had happened.
Thankfully, the family has received a lot of support following the theft, mostly from friends and acquaintances.
“There are so many who had a relationship with Svein-Erik,” Tom said. “They are also angry and disappointed, and are sad for our sake.”
To honour Svein-Erik, a dragon has been engraved on his headstone. Tom, Lone and Svein-Erik’s brother have the same one tattooed on their bodies.
Increasing incidents
Ivar Nygård is a church warden in Drammen. He says it’s not often you hear about thefts from the graves of children.
However, he did say the rate at which things are going missing from burial sites is increasing.
“People dig up and steal flowers, fine stones and lights, all things that can be used at other graves. Some also steal personal belongings from graves,” Nygård told Drammen Tidende.
Hopefully, with the dragon having been engraved on the tombstone, Svein-Erik’s family can now mourn in peace.
Stealing things from the grave of a child is so low that I can barely put it into words. It should not be happening.
Hopefully thieves can see what sort of suffering they’re causing when they steal from a grave.
Nobody should be able to take from a gravestone and get away with it. Share this article to help draw attention to Lone, Tom-Rune and Svein-Erik’s story.