The niece brought her apparently lifeless uncle into the bank to sign a loan.
Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes took her deceased uncle into a Brazilian bank, in a scenario much darker than Weekend at Bernie’s.
Videos show the woman using her hand to prop up his head and talking to him as the staff quickly became suspicious.
Nunes attempted to get her 68-year-old uncle to sign off on a loan for reportedly 17,000 reais (£2,600), as one clerk remarked, “I don’t think he’s well. He doesn’t look well at all.”
And that was pretty accurate, as the man wasn’t well at all – he was, in fact, dead and seemed to have been for at least two hours.
As staff continued to question and film her, Nunes asked the body: “Uncle, are you listening?” while holding a pen between his fingers and attempting to sign the paperwork.
She said, “Sign here and put an end to giving me a headache,” as she steadied his swaying head from behind.
A worker expressed concern, saying, “I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale.”
But Nunes persisted, replying, “He’s always like that,” and turned to her uncle, saying, “If you’re not feeling well, I can take you to the hospital. Do you want to go back to the hospital again?”
Bank tellers called the paramedics, who confirmed that Paulo Braga had died hours before the woman wheeled him into the bank.
“She knew he was dead … he had been dead for at least two hours,” the investigating officer, Fábio Luiz Souza, told the breakfast news program Bom Dia Rio on Wednesday, April 17th.
Results of a post-mortem to confirm his cause of death are yet to be made public, and police are also investigating if she actually is his niece. “I have never come across a story like this in 22 years [as a policeman],” added Souza.
Nunes was arrested at the scene as she told officers she was both Braga’s niece and carer. The lawyer representing her, Ana Carla de Souza Correa, insisted the situation was not as described.
“The facts did not occur as has been narrated. Paulo was alive when he arrived at the bank,” she told reporters.
She claimed there were witnesses who could prove this and that “all of this will be cleared up.”
“The lawyer added, “We believe in Érika’s innocence.”
But Police Chief Souza said: “Anyone who sees that can see the person was dead.”
