The parents of a young woman who was killed in a traffic accident three years ago have filed a judicial protest against the undertaker and the authorities after discovering that she was buried in a body bag.

Salvatore and Josephine Boni, parents of Johanna Boni, called upon the undertaker, Anna Falzon, the CEO of Mater Dei Hospital, the Health Minister and the Permanent Secretary within the Health Ministry to rectify the situation by addressing the “immoral and indecent” manner whereby their only daughter had been laid to rest.

Johanna Boni died in an accident involving a cement mixer in Labour Avenue, Naxxar on January 5, 2016. The 27-year-old was riding her Kawasaki ER6N to work at the time.

The parents explained that when they saw their daughter’s corpse for identification purposes after the accident, they had noted that the body was intact, although it was grazed and bruised and had tyre marks on the back.

They had engaged Anna Falzon as undertaker, to ensure that their daughter would be attired in a €500 outfit purposely selected by them for the interment.

But three years after the funeral, when the family grave was reopened for the burial of Johanna’s grandfather, they were horrified to find that the outfit had been dumped inside the coffin where their daughter had been placed inside a plastic body bag.

The parents insisted that the right to a dignified burial was enshrined in Maltese law which states that “every dead body is to be buried with such covering as decorum and decency require,” a right which had been trampled upon.

Moreover, the undertaker had gone back on her promise of ensuring that their daughter would be suitably attired for burial, the parents continued.

In the light of all this, they called upon the undertaker and relative authorities to redress the situation whilst reserving the right to take further action to safeguard not only their rights and those of their daughter, but also the rights of third parties who may suffer a similar experience.

Lawyers Matthew Paris and Michele Cardinali filed the judicial protest.