‘Broken and destroyed': Mother denied final goodbye at daughter's funeral
This story contains graphic imagery.
The day Helen Moraitis was entombed, she was supposed to be buried with her favourite flowers in her hands, gold jewellery adorning her body, and dressed in black clothing.
Instead, a court has heard, her mother, Teresa Moraitis, was 'broken and destroyed' to discover her daughter had been buried naked inside a blue plastic body bag. There was no jewellery or flowers, her body was riddled with maggots and flies, and the lining of her casket was ripped.
Moraitis detailed the state of her daughter's remains during testimony on Thursday in the Supreme Court of Victoria during a defamation trial launched by funeral director Peter Tziotzis.
Tziotzis is suing The Age and A Current Affair for defamation over news reports made when Helen's family had her body exhumed.
Helen was 57 years old when she died in her sleep on June 27, 2022.
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Soon after her death Moraitis, who was then 81 years old, hired funeral director Peter Tziotzis and his company, Melbourne Orthodox Funeral Services, to carry out a traditional Greek Orthodox funeral and a trisagion – a viewing usually held the night before the funeral.
At a meeting on July 2, Moraitis said she specified to Tziotzis she wanted Helen's body to be embalmed, and for there to be an open casket at the funeral. She also handed over black clothing and gold jewellery for Helen to be dressed and buried in.
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