Couple shocked to find Rookwood Cemetery ripped up baby’s grave

As if losing their precious son to stillbirth at 39 weeks wasn’t heartbreaking enough, Sydney couple Angela and John Stathopoulos were beyond devastated when they went to visit his resting place at Rookwood Cemetery.

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A couple has been left shattered and outraged after their baby son’s grave was “desecrated” by cemetery workers who threw his mementos and name plaque in the bin.

Although Rookwood Cemetery has apologised, admitting the staff were “lacking empathy”, it has highlighted the strict rules around what can and can’t be placed around gravestones.

But even a heartfelt apology is not going to remove Angela and John Stathopoulos’ memory of seeing their baby Anastasios’s belongings in the rubbish bin.

Anastasios, their first child, was stillborn last April at 39 weeks.

Angela and John Stathopoulos are still struggling to comprehend what was done to their baby son Anastasios’s grave. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

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The heartbroken Revesby couple poured their love into his grave at Rookwood cemetery, decorating it with a miniature white picket fence, synthetic turf, angels, flags and gifts from grandparents and relatives, but on November 7, Rookwood Cemetery staff removed everything.

When Mrs Stathopoulos visited her son, she was confronted with his stripped grave with all the decorations tossed into a wheelie bin.

“I looked in the bin and saw the turf we’d laid, his little fence, and the other baby possessions, the little wooden name of my son all in the bin and I just screamed down the cemetery with the heartache,” Mrs Stathopoulos, 33, said.

Rookwood Cemetery chief executive officer George Simpson came out to explain to the devastated mother that the staff had wanted to lay fresh turf in the baby section.

Angela and John Stathopoulos poured their love into their little boy’s grave.

The couple was heartbroken to discover their son’s grave had been ripped up and thrown in a bin.

The broken picket fence and their son’s name tossed away.

The devastated parents only found out when Mrs Stathopoulos went to visit her son.

“They desecrated the resting spots of the souls that are laid to rest there all because the grounds keeper staff wanted to relay fresh turf,” Mrs Stathopoulos said.

“The cemetery staff did not bother to once notify the families to come and remove their baby’s belongings, as they just disposed it in the bin.”

Mrs Stathopoulos said the staff were heartless and should have warned the families beforehand.

“They should not work there let alone be near any babies that lay to rest there, I’m disgusted at these heartless human beings,” she said.

Mrs Stathopoulos also said she had cleared the miniature fence with the cemetery last year.

“It is hard to un-see that and we have been given no answer as to why they threw our child’s possessions in the bin,” Mr Stathopoulos said.

Mrs Stathopoulos said she is disgusted by how the finally resting place of her son and other babies were treated. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Simpson apologised to the couple in writing, saying he is “deeply upset that this has occurred in our cemetery, for which I am fully responsible, when families entrust their loved ones into our care it is our responsibility to look after them and their possessions, on this occasion we have let both of you, and all of the other parents who have children interred in this area, down.

“I expect a high level of empathy and understanding from my teams but on this occasion this has been sadly lacking.”

Mr Simpson told the Sunday Telegraph there was a lack of communication between the operations teams and client services and that parents should have been made aware of the works.

“We returfed the who baby lawn and our staff removed some of the belongings on the babies graves and during that process the duty of care and diligence we should have taken we didn’t take and some items were not replaced, some were damaged and some placed in the bin. We take full responsibility. When parents are grieving it is at a higher level and we need to understand that,” Mr Simpson said.