‘Sickly’: Neighbour’s shock after rotting corpse found inside fly-infested Cairns apartment

A Cairns resident has described the “ghastly smell” of a decaying corpse after a man lay dead in his apartment for weeks before anyone noticed.

A Cairns resident has described the “ghastly smell” of a decaying corpse next door after a man lay dead in his apartment for two weeks before anyone noticed.

Manunda resident Margaret, who wanted her surname withheld, began to notice a “sickly, sweet” odour permeating around her Chester Court unit complex in late September, putting it down to open rubbish bins downstairs.

She alerted her body corporate service about the vile stench before she began to notice “a million flies” at the window of an upstairs apartment.

The Manunda apartment complex where a dead body was discovered in a unit on October 3. Photo: Supplied.

“It was then I immediately thought this is not good, so I phoned the police.”

Little did she know it was due to the rotting, human cadaver of her neighbour, who had not been seen by several tenants for weeks.

“The smell got so bad I couldn’t sit on my balcony and read, I had to close up all the windows because the smell kept wafting in,” she said.

“I actually jokingly told a man here that it smelt like someone had died.

“It was a sickly, sweet smell.

“It’s a smell that seems to stay on your nose, I've never experienced anything like it.”

Police located a deceased man, 70, of German descent at the complex on October 3.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said a report was being prepared for the coroner and the death was not being treated as suspicious.

However, Margaret’s ordeal is far from over.The tenant of 11 years has moved in with her friend, Bob Stein, because of the ongoing smell.

She has contacted the Residential Tenancies Authority, Queensland Health, Body Corporate Services, Cairns Regional Council and Cairns MP Michael Healy in an attempt for assistance.

Queensland Police located the decomposing body inside the Chester Court home. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

“It has been a public health hazard, I am really concerned about the amount of flies,” she said.

“And it still smells.”

Mr Stein, 67, said it had been a frustrating process trying to get the situation rectified.

“She can’t live there until it has been properly cleaned,” he said.“It’s not right.”

A spokeswoman from Body Corporate Services said a deep clean would be carried out “within the next 48 hours”.

The body was discovered on October 3.

“While under normal circumstances attending to the unit clean would be the responsibility of the deceased’s next of kin, we understand that the gentleman who passed away had no immediate family,” she said.

“Body Corporate Services have been working in conjunction with the property manager and body corporate committee to have the deep clean completed as quickly as possible.

“We understand this specialist clean will be completed within the next 48 hours.”

A Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Services spokeswoman said despite the “unfortunate situation”, the odour did not present a public health risk.

She said environmental health staff took a number of steps to assist Margaret, speaking to her three days following the discovery of the body.

“We also spoke with the relevant real estate agent on the same day and requested they arrange for cleaning to be done as soon as possible,” she said.

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Originally published as ‘Sickly’: Neighbour’s shock after rotting corpse found inside fly-infested Cairns apartment