Man's Body Decomposed In Apartment...No One Noticed

[bloodrayne]

'Horrible A Bloke's Got To Die Like That'

Sydney, Australia - A man who found a skeleton left to decompose for up to six months in a Sydney housing commission apartment is shocked no-one noticed the smell.

And after the gruesome discovery, NSW Premier Morris Iemma urged people to keep an eye on elderly neighbours.

"It is a lesson for us all that we can be better neighbours by looking out for each other more often," said, adding that the Housing Department would review its inspection processes.

After a series of short-term grants, the State Government announced today it would fund a community development worker position at Northcott for two years.
A spokeswoman for NSW Housing Minister Cherie Burton, Korena Flanagan, said the timing was not coincidental and the decision had been made late last year.

Ms Flanagan said the welfare of public housing tenants needing support services, such as disability services, was regularly checked.

``The Department of Housing works closely with the relevant services to see the tenant is getting appropriate housing,'' she said.

``But no amount of government checking removes the need for neighbours to look out for each other.''

Ms Flanagan said tenants' rent was linked to social security payments, and Centrelink needed to notify the housing department of a death before rental charges would cease.

But residents of Northcott were deeply critical of the housing department.

Wayne Cook, 50, said finding the bones, which police believe is the remains of a 62-year-old man of Eastern European origin, was "very gruesome''.

"His leg was on the floor and his head was on the bed - it just looked terrible,'' he said.

"It's horrible that a bloke's got to die like that - I just can't get over that in a place like this no-one knows,'' he said.

"They [the housing commission] don't give a shit about anybody - the housing commission does not care about anybody ... a knock on the door would have solved everything.''

He and two other residents of the Northcott complex in Surry Hills were struck by a smell coming from Unit No 28 in C Block as they walked past yesterday morning.

"The door was open and it stunk, really smelt,'' he said.

"There was three of us there - it was just disgusting, the smell and looking at it, the body.

"It was terrible - all the windows were open and it just looked very wrong.
The people next door didn't know anyone lived there - I don't know how they missed the smell.''

A cleaner at the complex, who did not want to be named, said the "whole building stinks'', and that was why no-one noticed the death.

Dave Sharp, also a resident of Northcott, was with Mr Cook when the skeleton was discovered.

Mr Sharp said he had been awake all night thinking about ``the thing'' they found.

"I've grown up around here and seen enough death and decay to say that's not normal,'' he said.

The dead man's neighbour, Roy Eckersley. said he was unaware anybody lived in the unit.

"No, I've never seen him before in my life,'' he said.

"I was surprised - you wouldn't have known anyone lived there.

"I thought it was a nice building when I moved in, but it's not.''

Police pathologists believe the body is that of a 62-year-old man who died some six months ago.

Superintendent Daryl Donnolley, commander of Surry Hills Police, said that there were no signs the unit, which was filthy and covered in dust, had been ransacked.

Police found mail which indicated that the occupant was of East European origin.

Dental and medical records are being checked to confirm the identity of the skeleton but police believe the unit's occupant had no relatives in Australia.

Police know that the occupant paid nominal rent and bills by direct debit.

Mr Donnolley said, despite the area's reputation for crime, there were no suspicious circumstances, though it was surprising that no-one noticed he was missing.

"That's the tragedy of people in their later years residing on their own,'' he said.

He said there has been work done by the crime prevention officer working with the Department of Housing on a number of projects to get people to join together and interact more to minimise crime.

"The nature of some of these large unit complexes means you get a transient population, with people moving," he said.

"There are a large number of elderly people who either associate in small groups or don't associate with anybody."