A woman who wheeled her dead uncle into a bank to allegedly have him sign off a four-figure loan in her name has been arrested in Brazil.
Erika de Suza Vieira Nunes was filmed pushing her deceased relative through the bank in a wheelchair and using her hand to keep his head upright.
Bank staff began filming the woman after questioning why her uncle looked so pale.
Ms Nunes asked the corpse, “Uncle, are you listening?” as she held a pen between his fingers and attempted to sign paperwork, which according to local media was for a loan agreement worth 17,000 Brazilian Reais (£2,500).
‘He’s very pale’
The video, which was aired on Brazilian media, shows the woman telling her supposed uncle to grip his pen harder as she encourages him to sign the document on a desk in front of him, next to a photo ID showing his name.
She said: “Sign here and stop giving me a headache” as she grabbed the man’s swaying head from behind.
The bank worker replied: “I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale.”
Ms Nunes says: “He’s like that.”
She tells the deceased: “If you’re not well, I can take you to hospital. Do you want to go back to the hospital again?”
Bank tellers called paramedics who confirmed Paulo Robert Braga, 68, had died hours before he was wheeled into the bank in Bangu, a western suburb of Rio de Janeiro.
Results of a post-mortem to determine Braga’s cause of death are yet to be made public.
Ms Nunes was arrested at the scene and told officers she was the man’s niece as well as carer.
Fabio Luiz, the region’s police chief, confirmed the arrest and said an investigation was underway “to find out if he was alive when the loan was arranged and when it dates from”.
In July 2023, two men were jailed in Ireland for attempting to use a dead man’s body to deceive a Post Office and claim the individual’s pension.
Declan Haughney, 41, was sentenced to two years in prison and Gareth Coakley, 37, was jailed for 18 months.
