The family of Janice Cecilia Valigura claim her $1,700 silky oak coffin was switched and letters placed on her heart thrown out

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Police are investigating an alleged fraud after a central Queensland family accused a funeral home of switching a grandmother’s $1,700 silky oak coffin for a cheap pine box just before her cremation.

Janice Cecilia Valigura, 74, was farewelled in Rockhampton on Monday, but her family say she was removed from her casket, wrapped in plastic and placed in a cheap box prior to her cremation.

Letters written by her grandchildren and placed on her heart were thrown away.

Queensland police have confirmed they are investigating the matter.

“It’s been reported as a fraud and that’s what’s being investigated at this stage,” Detective Sergeant Craig Strohfeldt told reporters on Thursday.

“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.”

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The funeral home, Harts Family Funerals, declined to comment. Owner Tony Hart would only say there were “two families involved in the story”.

The president of the Queensland Funeral Directors Association, Anton Brown, said changing coffins was not common practice in the funeral industry.

“It’s like buying a Mercedes and getting a Toyota Corolla,” Brown told ABC radio. “When people choose a funeral director they put a lot of trust in that person.”

Valigura’s son Mick Valigura said the family was shocked by what they claimed had happened.



On the funeral home’s website, Hart promises to provide bereaved families with “personal and exceptional care”.



“We pride ourselves on offering families a funeral that is affordable, professional, modern in standards and of the highest integrity,” he says.