Introduce Law for Protecting Elderly

Originally published by the French Tribune on March 16th, 2011. To go to the Financial Post website please click here

A couple slammed with keeping their ailing mother in the impossible-to-survive conditions has been remanded into the custody by the local court.

It is alleged that mother, aged 68, was held captive by the couple in a cold, fragile and dark garage throughout the winter.

The elderly woman was suffering from frostbitten toes as well as dementia. It is learnt that she was not only deprived of the basic necessities of food and clothing but was also neglected completely by her son and daughter-in-law.

Following this, the court has ruled for the judicial custody of Kwong Yan, aged 43, and his wife, Qi Tan, aged 28.

Although, the couple will be sentenced very shortly but the punishment would be nothing compared to the agony suffered by the old lady.

The case has clearly reflected the grim picture of elder abuse in the country. As per the recent findings, in 2005 there were more than 150 brutal cases for every 100,000 seniors in Canada.

These figures have prompted Susan Eng, who is the Vice-President of advocacy at CARP, to call for an introduction of strict laws against elder abuse.

She recently stated: “As a society, we’re now far more open to talking about the hidden crimes of spousal abuse and child abuse. Now we need to do the same for elder abuse… the current law is clearly not robust enough to signal society’s abhorrence for this crime”.

© The French Tribune

Keywords: elder, abuse, crime