MILDURA Council says it will refer the actions of a former employee to Victoria Police following the release of a scathing report into his conduct as team leader of Mildura Cemetery Trust.
The Victorian Ombudsman’s 100-page report detailed “deeply troubling” allegations that Darren Bock illegally exhumed four bodies, sold memorial chairs for personal benefit and other “misdeeds” in a misuse of his position.
The report, tabled in Victorian Parliament on Wednesday, said that on one occasion a woman was exhumed without authorisation after she was buried in the wrong grave.
During the funeral, the deceased woman’s daughter realised her mother was being buried in the wrong plot and was so distraught she had to be carried away, the report said.
A few days later, the family faced a second burial, accompanying the coffin as it was moved to the correct plot.
In another case, it is alleged Mr Bock invited several council colleagues to view an exhumation of a World War I and World War II veteran, during which they saw him handling the deceased man’s bones in the grave.
Ombudsman Deborah Glass said Mr Bock’s handling of those remains appeared to have been “insensitive at the very least”.
“At best, it appears that Mr Bock behaved unprofessionally in inviting people to witness an exhumation when there was no reason for them to be present,” Ms Glass said.
“His actions in inviting other Trust Officers to witness the exhumation, and during the exhumation process itself, suggest that Mr Bock treated this exhumation as something of a spectacle.”
The four alleged illegal exhumations took place between mid-2011 and March last year.
The Ombudsman said Mr Bock invoked the privilege against self-incrimination as a basis to answer questions about the four exhumations.
Ms Glass said that from the available evidence, the willingness of Mr Bock “to cut corners, manifests as a disregard for the deceased, their bereaved, Mr Bock’s colleagues and superiors as well as his own professional obligations”.
The Ombudsman also found that Mr Bock, who worked at Mildura’s Nichols Point and Murray Pines cemeteries from 1993 to August 2018, took money from grieving families for memorial chairs made by his relative, received cash payments which were not paid to the Cemetery Trust and mismanaged record-keeping about where people were buried.
The investigation found evidence that payments for the memorial chairs were directed to Mr Bock’s home address or personal bank account, however he denied gaining any personal financial reward through the purchase of the seats.
The investigation also found Mr Bock received cash payments on the side from funeral directors to lift grave lids, enabling interment of additional people in a single grave.
Ms Glass said deficiencies identified in the report “give rise to a credible suspicion that they are far from the only instances of improper conduct and maladministration during Mr Bock’s tenure at the Trust”.
The investigation, by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in June and August last year, followed two complaints to the Victorian Ombudsman over Mr Bock’s behaviour.
He was the sexton-cemetery team leader from 2005 until his resignation in August last year.
Conducting an exhumation without a licence is a criminal offence and is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment.
Control inadequate, says Ombudsman
THE Victorian Ombudsman said the improper conduct by a former Mildura Cemetery Trust employee was only able to flourish for so long because of inadequate supervision and an absence of governance controls.
In the report tabled in the Victorian Parliament, Ombudsman Deborah Glass said the misdeeds, mistakes and incompetence described in the document went beyond the original allegations of misconduct against former cemetery team leader Darren Bock.
“The investigation found these – and more – to be substantiated, raising fundamental questions about the management of a public cemetery’s operations,” Ms Glass said.
“People engaged in the emotional process of burying a loved one should not face the added burden of those in charge making careless mistakes, breaking the law or behaving in a manner disrespectful of the departed,” she said.
“The seemingly random nature of the transgressions does not diminish their seriousness. If anything, the disregard for due process in handling the most sensitive of human experiences – death, grief and remembrance – only amplifies concerns.”
A former @MilduraCouncil employee misused his position at Nichols Point and Murray Pines cemeteries. Ombudsman Deborah Glass found he undertook potentially illegal exhumations and took money from grieving families for memorial chairs made by a relative. https://t.co/HCeXxB9foG pic.twitter.com/Avm0eK57od
— Victorian Ombudsman (@VicOmbudsman) November 12, 2019
Ms Glass said the employee rationalised some of his actions as being in keeping with the deceased or their family’s wishes.
“Transgressing regulations, even if rationalised as doing a favour for a grieving family, can do a great disservice to the community,” she said.
“They undermine public confidence at a time when people are more vulnerable than usual, and where trust and sensitivity are typically assumed.”
Ms Glass made five recommendations to Mildura Council and the Mildura Cemetery Trust, which included referring the employee’s conduct to Victoria Police for investigation.
The Ombudsman’s office said it had contacted families who may have been directly affected by the contents of the report to discuss the issues raised before its publication.
