A funeral home that allegedly swapped a grandmother’s $1700 oak casket lined with white silk for a $70 pine box is being investigated by police.
Janice Cecilia Valigura, 74, was farewelled on Monday after she died from a stroke on New Year’s Eve, and cremated at a Rockhampton cemetery.
But her family claimed Harts Family Funerals removed her body from the casket, wrapped it in plastic and dumped it in a cheap box for her cremation.
A family has been left outraged after a funeral home allegedly swapped the expensive coffin (pictured) of their grandmother to a cheap box
The $1700 oak casket lined with white silk is believed to have been switched for a $70 pine box (pictured) moments before the cremation of 74-year-old Janice Valigura
They said letters written by her grandchildren and placed on her heart were also thrown away.
Detective Sergeant Craig Strohfeldt said Queensland police were now investigating the funeral home for fraud.
‘It’s been reported as a fraud and that’s what’s being investigated at this stage,’ he said.
‘It’s only been alleged at this stage but if the investigations do prove that an offence has been committed then it is a shocking thing.’
Ms Valigura’s (pictured) niece Kerry Rothery told The Daily Mercury when the coffin arrived ‘an hour late’ they knew something had happened
Harts Family Funerals declined to comment with owner Tony Hart only saying there were ‘two families involved in the story’.
Queensland Funeral Directors Association president Anton Brown said changing coffins was not common practice in the funeral industry.
‘When people choose a funeral director they put a lot of trust in that person,’ he told ABC radio.
‘This person who has done this to the family has broken their trust. It’s like buying a Mercedes and getting a Toyota Corolla.’
Ms Valigura’s niece Kerry Rothery told The Daily Mercury when the coffin arrived ‘an hour late’ they knew something had happened.
Between the coffin being blessed by Ms Valigura’s grandchildren at the church and being taken to the crematorium, something went wrong.
The funeral home, Harts Family Funerals, (pictured) declined to comment when contacted by Australian Associated Press
Ms Rothery said the top of the casket had been screwed shut and her aunt was wrapped in plastic instead of the initial silk wrap.
‘What she was put in was absolutely degrading to my aunty,’ she said.
Ms Valigura’s son Mick Valigura said the family were devastated but the undertaker told him it happened often, according to ABC News.
Whitsunday Funerals and Crematorium director Jeff Doyle said switching coffins was ‘common practice around Australia’ and called for ‘serious regulation’ in the industry.
‘But unfortunately because at most crematoriums you’re not allowed to go down and actually see the coffin go into the the cremator, it’s easy for them to do it,’ he said.