Caregiver Arrested for Punching Elderly Man with Stick
A 71-year-old New Zealand man was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly punched an 81-year-old man he was taking care of with a stick, causing injuries to the man’s eyes nearly blinding him. The 81-year-old man was reportedly living in the younger man’s van and agreed to pay him and his wife $500 a week to live there.
However, the NZHerald website states that while the elderly man was in the younger man’s care, he received several injuries including a dislocated shoulder, several cuts and bruises and the recent attack against him left him with a detached retina. The report also states that the elderly man was not always fed properly while under the younger man’s care. The elderly man was found emaciated weighing only 41 kg (roughly 88 lbs) and he had bruises all over his body. A court judge stated that while he felt the 71-year-old man deserved a stiffer punishment for deliberately neglecting and abusing the elderly man, he was only sentencing him to 12 months in jail.
Even though the perpetrator of the abuse and neglect in this incident is also an elderly man, it does not give him an excuse for deliberately leaving another man neglected. No matter how old a person is, they should always take steps to ensure that people under their care get the proper medical care they require. Even if that means helping that person find a nursing home or assisted living center that can provide proper care, it is a better step in the right direction as opposed to deliberately leaving them neglected and abusing them. Despite the man’s age, he should still be held accountable for leaving this elderly man malnourished and causing him severe harm leading to very serious injuries.
