Dead man wheeled into bank by niece to sign bank loan had been deceased for two hours

Warning: This article contains content some readers may find distressing.

A seemingly dead man was wheeled into a bank by his niece to sign a bank loan.

Much darker than Weekend at Bernie’s, Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes took her deceased uncle into a Brazilian bank.

Videos show the woman using her hand to keep his head up and talking to him as the staff quickly became suspicious.

Nunes tried to get her 68-year-old uncle to sign off on a loan for reportedly 17,000 reais (£2,600) as one clerk said: “I don’t think he’s well. He doesn’t look well at all.”

And that was pretty accurate, as the bloke 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.

The body was in a wheelchair. (X/@realengotv)

She said: “Sign here and stop giving me a headache,” while taking hold of his swaying head from the back.

A worker said: “I don’t think this is legal. He doesn’t look well. He’s very pale.”

But Nunes kept it up as she replied: “He’s like that.” And told her dead uncle: “If you’re not well, I can take you to hospital. Do you want to go back to the hospital again?”

Bank tellers called the paramedics who confirmed 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 breakfast news program Bom Dia Rio on Wednesday (17 April).

She spoke to him as staff raised concerns. (X/@realengotv)

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'.

“We believe in Érika’s innocence,” the lawyer added.

But police chief Souza said: “Anyone who sees that [video] can see the person was dead.”