A funeral director has described the warning signs that led her to confront three visitors allegedly attempting to remove tissue from a deceased man’s body during a viewing.
Esther Swanborough, who has operated her family’s funeral business in Browns Plains, south of Brisbane, for three decades, said two men and a 43-year-old woman arrived to view the remains of an elderly man.
Brian Wong, 47, Changmin Koo, 38, and Cassandra Hunter allegedly claimed to be the deceased man’s son, another male relative and a female support person.
The trio arrived at 1pm on Friday for a scheduled appointment, carrying backpacks as they entered the parlour’s Still Waters Chapel to view Wong’s father.
‘We took them downstairs to have their private viewing time,’ Ms Swanborough said.
One of the visitors then asked staff to leave the chapel, saying, ‘Please leave the chapel because we have cultural practices that we need to carry out,’ Ms Swanborough recalled.
She said such requests were ‘not uncommon’ because the business worked with people from ‘240 cultures’, but added that what allegedly happened next ‘was not anything to do with culture’.
Further suspicion arose when a staff member overheard Koo speaking. The employee told Ms Swanborough he was allegedly ‘definitely not a relative’ because he was speaking Korean rather than Mandarin, the language used by Wong’s family.
Esther Swanborough checked on the trio during their viewing of Brian Wong’s father’s body and allegedly found them attempting to remove something. ‘Gloves were being put away. I said, “What have you done?”‘
The body was being viewed inside the parlour’s Still Waters Chapel, where Ms Swanborough allegedly discovered the trio trying to remove tissue with scalpels or blades concealed in their backpacks.
‘Then I just went back in to make sure they were doing okay. Everyone grieves differently,’ Ms Swanborough said.
She said that was when she realised the body of Wong’s father had allegedly been interfered with.
‘Something very different was happening. My impression was that something else … was occurring.’
‘They were allegedly trying to remove something that would have been very obvious when he was moved from the viewing room … gloves were being put away.’
‘I said, “What have you done?” That was when I started piecing things together, and we called the police straight away.’
When Ms Swanborough confronted the group, Brian Christian Wong allegedly fled the parlour. Police declared the premises a crime scene after arriving.
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Police allege one of the men removed tissue from the body after the group entered the funeral home with scissors, scalpels and blades. Ms Swanborough said the items had been concealed in the large backpacks when the trio arrived.
The disturbing incident left her ‘shocked, horrified, mortified’ because, in 30 years of running the business, neither she nor the company’s manager had ever witnessed anything similar.
Cassandra Hunter and Changmin Koo were arrested at the scene. Police arrested Brian Wong at his family’s Browns Plains home more than five hours later on Friday night.
Wong, Koo and Hunter were charged with misconduct with a corpse, entering premises with intent to commit an indictable offence, and being armed with intent to enter premises and commit an indictable offence.
After 30 years operating her family’s funeral business, Esther Swanborough said she had never seen anything like the alleged attempt by a relative to mutilate or remove part of a body.
Ms Swanborough said the trio asked to be left alone with Mr Wong’s body for ‘cultural’ reasons, but she insisted the alleged actions that followed had nothing to do with culture.
A Brisbane magistrate remanded the trio in custody, alleging they entered armed with scissors, scalpels and blades before unlawfully interfering with and wounding a dead body.
The three appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Saturday and were remanded in custody after none of them applied for bail.
Magistrate Peter Saggers said the group had brought several sharp instruments, according to The Courier-Mail.
‘Just reading the bench charge sheets, they’re entering Swanborough Funerals home at Browns Plains while armed with scissors, scalpels and blades to commit an offence, and then, without justification, interfered with and wounded a dead body,’ he said.
Brian Wong was remanded to appear in Beenleigh Magistrates Court on November 12.
Changmin Koo is due back in court on November 10 and will require a Korean interpreter.
Cassandra Hunter will remain in custody until December 7, when she is scheduled to appear by video link.
In a Facebook video, Ms Swanborough reassured other clients that ‘at no point in time were any of the other families we were caring for at the time affected’.
‘It was an isolated incident in our viewing room with family members. I want to thank everyone for your support, so much appreciated. We’re doing okay, we’re shocked, we’re emotionally distressed.’
