Son arrested for exhuming mother’s body and taking her coffin home
A man has been arrested after he removed his late mother’s body from her grave in a Spanish cemetery and drove her coffin home.
The man told an investigating judge that he just wanted to check that his mother was really gone, as her death three days earlier had occurred so suddenly.
Witnesses at the La Carriona municipal cemetery in Aviles informed a local priest that a man had walked to the funeral niche where his mother had been laid to rest, and yelled that she had been taken from her home ‘without permission’.
Onlookers reported he then removed the flowers from her tomb and smashed the brick partition that was protecting the coffin before dragging it to his car.
People in the cemetery are said to have tried to talk him out of the elaborate heist, but he allegedly responded by asking them for assistance before placing the coffin into the boot of his vehicle.
The back seats of the car had already been lowered so the coffin would fit, and he drove two miles home with it.
Police said the found him and his mother’s body at the property, with her still in the casket.
The man was arrested at the scene and the coffin was returned to the cemetery where she was laid to rest.
However, shortly afterwards a judge issued a warrant to remove it for a second time, so it could be formally identified by the police, and checked for any damage.
He spent a night in a police cell following the ordeal, and was examined by a psychiatrist following his detention, who concluded there was no reason to admit him to hospital.
The man, who has only been identified by his initials R.A.D, was photographed being led into the court in handcuffs by local police.
He was questioned by a judge, and then released an hour later and was told he could visit his mother.
He remains under investigation, and could still end up being charged with grave desecration.
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