Christchurch woman calls for regulation of funeral homes after traumatic experience farewelling her daughter

October 2, 2017

A family are desperate for answers after what they say was a botched funeral.

A Christchurch woman is calling for the regulation of funeral homes after a horror experience farewelling her young daughter.

Six-weeks-ago Shamae Mclean died in her sleep aged just 24, leaving behind a five-year-old daughter and a family looking for answers after what they say was a botched funeral.

Her family chose Poppy Funerals to look after the arrangements, but say things started going wrong as soon as her body arrived home.

"Her body started changing colour, so we contacted the funeral home and they came back to the house," Ms Mclean's mother Michelle Bishop said.

"The person concerned pulled out Thin Lizzy and started dusting my daughter's face while she was in the coffin."

Ms Bishop asked for evidence her daughter was embalmed but got no response, she also says the urns she was promised for the ashes never arrived either.

The Funeral Directors Association holds membership of 80 percent of the industry, Poppy Funerals isn't a member, but the association stepped in to help anyway.

"We reached out to that funeral home and asked if we could help in anyway and we're hoping that they get back to us," Katrina Shanks of the Funeral Directors Association said.

Ms Bishop says no death certificate had been ordered either, so she contacted police and now plans lobbying to have the industry regulated.

However, the Funeral Directors Association disagrees saying they have already have a code of ethics and standards which requires every funeral home to have at least one qualified funeral director.

It now appears Poppy Funerals may have gone out of business after they took their website down and other businesses in the area told 1 NEWS they saw them moving furniture and belongings out of the building they occupied on the weekend.

Ms Bishop is still hopeful police will find grounds to prosecute, and is enlisting the help of her local MPs.

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