A man working at the Port Moresby General Hospital has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with a dead body in the hospital’s morgue.
Police spokesman David Terry said the incident happened late in the night last week Wednesday at around 12am.
Mr Terry said that a hospital security guard noticed that lights were turned off in a separate part of the hospital’s main building and went to investigate the anomaly.
According to the guard, he opened the door to the room that was pitch black and put on the lights to find the alleged sex offender having what he perceived to be sex with the corpse of a female.
It was disseminated that the person found in the compromising position with the corpse was in fact the hospital’s porter (person who carries equipment and bags). The allegedly victimized body was transferred into that section of the hospital after a hit-and-run accident earlier that day.
According to hospital staff, the body should have been stored in the morgue cold room as was traditional medical practice but was instead left in the open-air layout room overnight.
Mr Terry also mentioned that traces of semen were found on the corpse after the incident but added that confirmation or any assumptions could not be taken until the matter was legally tried in court.
The identities of both the alleged offender and the deceased victim were not revealed.
The hospital’s Head of Medical Services Dr David Mokela said that he could not comment on the matter as he had not yet received a full report on the incident from the Emergency Department.
Police said the hospital porter was arrested on Thursday morning and now faces charges relating to interfering with a corpse.
"This is the first time in my 15 years with the force that I've come across such a bizarre incident," Mr Terry said.