The Justice Ministry will investigate whether a law change is needed after recent cases of bodysnatching by grieving family members.
Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters yesterday that the ministry would look at the issue and advise Justice Minister Annette King if a law change would help.
There have been several highprofile cases recently, with the latest resolved on Friday with the burial of Ivy May Ngahooro in Hamilton. Her body was taken earlier in the week to a Taumarunui marae by daughter Joanne Bennett who, along with three brothers, wanted to bury her there.
The snatching of Ms Ngahooro's body followed that of John Takamore last August and in December that of Tina Marshall-McMenamin.
Miss Clark said ‘‘the gist'' of the problem was that a body was not property, which meant nobody could own it. The executor of a deceased person's estate was entitled to custody of the body and had a legal duty to bury, cremate, or otherwise dispose of it, but the family's wishes were usually respected.
‘‘The Ministry of Justice will be advising Annette King on whether legislative amendment would help,'' Miss Clark said.
The ministry would consider powers available to police when a body was taken and what happened when somebody died with no will.
Police were also looking at whether they needed to change protocols for dealing with bodysnatching cases.
It was not illegal to take a body, but police could charge people with offering an indignity to a dead human body.
Yesterday, after talking to Maori leaders, Acting Chief Coroner Dr Wallace Bain suggested coroners be given exclusive jurisdiction over custody of all bodies by amending the Coroners Act.
When deaths were reported to the coroner they had exclusive jurisdiction and right to custody until he or she authorised release of the body and this could be widened, Dr Bain said.
He proposed that any member of the public, funeral director or police officer should be able to report a death to a coroner at any time, especially when there appeared to be a dispute over custody or burial.
‘‘In that event, the coroner could immediately make urgent inquiries and issue a direction exercising jurisdiction over and the right to take custody of the body,'' Dr Bain said.
Miss Clark said the idea was worth considering.
