Three people charged after allegedly interfering with a corpse at funeral home
Updated . First published at
Three people have been charged after an allegedly grisly incident at a funeral home in Queensland.
Police said two men and a woman arranged to view the body of a dead man known to them at Swanborough Funerals in Browns Plains, Logan, just before 1pm on Friday.
Swanborough Funerals director Esther Swanborough said she was shocked when she came back into the room. 9News
“It is alleged one of the men interfered with the corpse whilst at the premises and fled the scene before police arrival,” Queensland Police said.
“The other man and woman were arrested at the scene.”
9News Queensland reporter Pat Heagney earlier reported that police had been searching for a man.
Funeral home director Esther Swanborough told 9News the incident unfolded when the visiting relatives had “asked me to leave the room”.
“When I came back in, they were acting very suspicious and I said to them, ‘What have you done?’”
Heagney reported that when Swanborough looked at the body she saw that “someone had tried to take a piece of the body or a piece of tissue”.
“I was shocked that this has happened, we have never seen anything like this before,” Swanborough said.
“We obviously, during this whole process, have the best intentions to be able to care for this family while not realising that we were being tricked into something very different.”
Queensland Police confirmed a crime scene had been declared at the funeral home.
The second man was arrested at a Browns Plains residence just before 6.30pm.
Police have declared a crime scene. 9News
The 47-year-old man, a 38-year-old man and a 43-year-old woman were all charged with one count each of entering a premises with intent to commit an indictable offence, being armed with intent to enter a premises and commit an indictable offence and misconduct with a corpse.
They were due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
