The funeral director who buried Johanna Boni, a young motorcyclist who died in a traffic accident and who was later found to have been placed in her coffin inside a plastic bag, has denied responsibility for the incident, contradicting a Health Ministry statement.

Boni was crushed to death by a cement mixer in Labour Avenue, Naxxar on January 5, 2016. The 27-year-old was riding her Kawasaki ER6N to work at the time.

At the time of her burial, her relatives had been advised not to look inside the coffin and only discovered the state she was buried in as they were preparing to inter her grandfather in the same grave at Mosta cemetery.

The ministry had said that when a person dies outside Mater Dei, the hospital is not responsible for the body of the deceased. Replying to the ministry's comments, funeral director Anna Falzon said that the spokeswoman's claims were "absolutely untrue."

"All I have to comment about this case and every other case is that as Funeral Directors, we never dress the deceased when the body is in the mortuary.

"We aren't even authorised to touch the deceased in the mortuary, let alone dress them! We dress deceased persons only when they die at home and the funeral cortege would be leaving from there," Falzon said.

Legal procurator Quentin Tanti is counsel to Falzon.