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Francis Tipene, star of The Casketeers and director of Tipene Funerals, has apologised for his former employee’s alleged misconduct.
Undertaker Fiona Bakulich faces accusations of putting her grieving clients’ dead relatives in plastic bags instead of sealed metal coffins they paid for, revealed by an exclusive Herald investigation in March.
Families found out when Cyclone Gabrielle damaged their above-ground mausoleum at Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland and they were present for the bodies’ disinterment last year.
The families told the Herald the bodies of their relatives were found bound with plastic tape and placed in plastic bags instead of the caskets they should have been in when flood damage at the public mausoleum at Waikumete Cemetery forced them to be disinterred following Cyclone Gabrielle.
Baldwin said police arrested a 48-year-old woman in Favona, South Auckland on October 22. Bakulich appeared in the Auckland District Court on October 25 on one charge of misconduct in respect of human remains and nine of obtaining by deception.
Baldwin said police could not rule out laying further charges and encouraged anyone “with ongoing concerns” to contact them online or by phoning 105 and quoting file number 240808/8008.
Fiona Bakulich, a former Tipene Funerals undertaker based in Auckland, appears in the Auckland District Court on October 25. Photo / Michael Craig
Police began investigating fraud allegations against Bakulich after Tipene Funerals laid complaints in March and April this year. It remains unclear what complaints Tipene Funerals made against Bakulich, but police shelved that investigation as there was insufficient evidence.
Police then began investigating new concerns about bodies at Waikumete Cemetery in August this year, following an exclusive investigation by the Herald in which several families anonymously spoke of what they were confronted with when they were present for the disinterments.
Bereft families, many being prominent Auckland Samoans, were confronted by the sight of their dead relatives having allegedly been mishandled.
They told the Herald they had solicited Bakulich’s services specifically because she was Samoan and they expected to be treated with the utmost cultural competency.
“When the families opened up the [outer] caskets, it was just a whole other level of grief. There was just wailing and screaming,” one affected relative told the Herald.
“How could you do this to our loved ones? You just bagged them like a piece of rubbish.”
Other families told the Herald they believed they had been swindled out of money by the undertaker.
Tipene Funerals director Francis Tipene has said the company encouraged anyone with concerns about Bakulich’s conduct to report it to police.
Fiona Bakulich (left) with Francis and Kaiora Tipene in a promotional image for the television show The Casketeers.
“Tipene Funerals has handed all information known to us to the police.”
He said his “former employee” worked for Tipene Funerals as a funeral director for seven years.
“And in doing so, a huge amount of trust was placed in her, both by Tipene Funerals, myself as director and the families she was taking care of,” Tipene said.
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
