This is the moment a woman wheeled a corpse into a bank and allegedly tried to get him to ‘sign’ a loan in her name, as he held his head up in front of suspicious staff who asked why he looked so pale.
Bank employees began filming the pair and eventually called an ambulance and the police as she used her hand to hold the deceased pensioner’s head up and said to him: ‘Uncle, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t sign for you.’
Footage showed the woman telling the dead man to grip his pen tightly as she placed it between his fingers and encouraged him to sign a piece of paper at the bank branch in Bangu, a neighborhood in western Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. .
A bank employee who witnessed the scene told the woman, “I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale.’
She replied: “That’s how he is” before telling the dead OAP: “If you’re not well, I can take you to the hospital. Do you want to go back to the hospital?’
Bank employees began filming the pair and eventually called an ambulance and the police as she used her hand to hold the deceased pensioner’s head up and said to him: ‘Uncle, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t draw for you
Footage showed the woman telling the dead man to grip his pen tightly as she placed it between his fingers and encouraged him to sign a piece of paper at the bank branch in Bangu, a neighborhood in western Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The video showed the dead man’s head swinging back and forth before she grabbed his neck from behind with her left hand.
She urged him, “Sign here and don’t give me another headache,” but there was a logical silence from the man she was pretending to have a conversation with.
The surreal incident took place yesterday afternoon.
Paramedics who arrived on the scene confirmed that the deceased pensioner, Paulo Roberto Braga, 68, had died a few hours earlier.
The woman who drove him into the bank, Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes, was arrested at the scene and told police she was both his niece and his caregiver.
Officials appear to be signaling they are related and are said to be checking CCTV cameras inside and outside the bank to see if Mr Braga’s relative was alone or with alleged accomplices, suspecting they were dealing with organized fraud.
The results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death have not yet been made public.
Police Chief Fabio Luiz confirmed after the arrest that Mr Braga was already dead when he was driven into the bank.
He added: ‘Investigations continue to identify other family members and to find out whether he was alive when the loan was taken out and when it dates from.’
Local reports said the loan amounted to 17,000 Brazilian Reais, the equivalent of about £2,500.
Two men were jailed in Ireland last July for trying to use a dead man’s body to defraud a post office into claiming his pension.
Declan Haughney, 41, was sentenced to two years and 37-year-old Gareth Coakley was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The incident took place in January 2022 in the city of Carlow.
During their trial at the Circuit Criminal Court in Carlow, CCTV footage was shown of both men dragging the lifeless body of 66-year-old Peadar Doyle, who was wearing a hat, from his home to the post office.
Reports at the time described Haughney as a cousin of the dead man.