Many incidents of elder abuse are not reported to authorities.
Image: Pexels.com/Aakash Goel
Community leaders are raising alarms over the disturbing rise in elderly abuse, urging neighbours to report cases of violence and neglect against vulnerable seniors
They have noted an increase in the number of elderly being beaten and abused at the hands of their own children.
Last week, a 47-year-old Shallcross man was arrested after he allegedly brutally assaulted his 78-year-old father and stabbed a Chatsworth police officer with a kitchen knife when they responded to the incident. He was charged with assault and resisting arrest, and was granted bail of R500.
Community leaders said this case shone the spotlight on abuse, and sparked a call to end abuse of the elderly.
Dhivesh Durgapersadh, a community leader in Shallcross, said many incidents of elder abuse was not reported to authorities.
“Fear and the love these elder folks have for their children or grandchildren is what prevents them from going to the police. Drug abuse and unemployment is fuelling the problem in Shallross.
“I have witnessed a son steal the food off the stove and the socks off his mother's feet, so that he could sell it to feed his drug habit. The son also assaulted the mum on many occasions. This was the worst incident I had witnessed. But the law can only do so much. The onus is on victims to report such behaviour and ensure justice takes it course,” he added.
Durgapersadh said the victims were often the ones who withdrew cases.
“Often victims withdraw cases out of fear. They should obtain protection orders against such perpetrators, be it family or not. Respecting elders is the cornerstone of a strong community. It's a practice that fosters empathy, gratitude, and a sense of continuity across generations,” he said.
Daniel Chettiar, chairperson of the North Coast Rapid Response Team (RRT), said they had an average of 14 cases a week reported to them, where the elderly were subjected to shocking incidents of abuse.
Last month the RRT attended to 25 cases.
“Presently, I am dealing with two cases. One is of a 69-year-old woman, who was drugged and raped. She lives alone on the north coast. Reports confirmed that there was a date rape drug in her blood system, but she doesn't remember what happened. We have placed her in a safe house and psychologists and the district surgeon are attending to her.
“Last week, while we were conducting a check-up on an elderly woman whose son broke her hand during an assault, we heard an elderly man screaming in agony a few doors away. The son was kicking his father like how you would a football. The father is 71 years old. The son was apparently unhappy about the way his father shone his shoes. The son said the father did not shine the shoes properly and it was not shiny enough.
“The son was arrested and we moved the father to a place of safety. But he did not want to pursue a case. Police released the son with a warning. Due to the man not wanting to press charges, our hands are tied,” he added.
He said often, elderly people who are assaulted lie to doctors and police about their injuries.
“A woman in her late 60s was assaulted badly by her son. She had a broken leg, and bruises and cuts, which required stitches. But she told the doctor she fell down and was injured. We also had a 66-year-old woman, who was being assaulted by her 17-year-old granddaughter. The woman was also afraid to report the beatings because the granddaughter would hit her in places where you would not see visible injuries, such as her head.
“We had a case where the son beat his mother, 65, on an auspicious prayer day. She told her son to tell his wife to turn the camphor and pray, but he said she did not do all that and he beat her up badly. Nothing could be done in that case because the woman did not want to press charges. Other cases we deal with relate to elderly people being swindled of their homes. Children and grandchildren make them put their fingerprints on documents, sign over the homes to them, and then leave them destitute. Greed and drugs are often the driving factors of this.
“Last week we had a 69-year-old woman and her brother, 71, who are both victims of assault at the hands of the woman’s son. He beat them both black and blue. We tried everything, including sending the police to the home. But the woman said nothing happened and she made excuses for the marks on her body. I advised her to report him to the police. But she said he was her son and if he went to jail she would be unable to pay the rent. Her grant was not enough to sustain them. The law does not permit us to act without a complainant,” Chettiar said.
He urged neighbours to act against abuse.
“Whenever we ask neighbours about if they had seen or heard anything, they more often than not have noticed the abuse, but they do not report it. We have to steer away from thinking that it is not our business.
“Neighbours say they don't get involved. But it's time people get involved. You can't see something and hear something and not get involved, especially if it's violence. Neighbors in many cases said they knew about it but they did nothing about it, which is sad.
“We are planning on starting a RRT for the Verulam and Phoenix areas. We are also advocating for self-defence classes for elderly people. We want to arm them with pepper spray and a whistle, so they can alert people if they are in distress. Tongaat is number one now - with the number of elder abuse. We can't just go into somebody's house if they don't call us to help them."
Yugen Pillay, chairperson of the Chatsworth Community Policing Forum (CPF), said alcohol, drug abuse and greed for money were the main factors driving abuse against the elderly.
“Apart from physical abuse, we see more and more cases of parents being thrown to the street after signing their homes over to their children. We have seen a case recently where an elderly man was assaulted by his son and had to be hospitalised.
“We need more education around this and elderly people need to be taught their rights. There is also a need for free legal assistance to those that can't afford it,” he said.
Related Topics:
