Jane* was going through some papers at her elderly parents’ house when she came across a bank statement showing there had been several withdrawals from a card they did not know they had.

She soon realised that her brother had manipulated their father, who had just started suffering from dementia, to sign a series of documents.

The signatures authorised their father’s pension cheque to be sent straight to the bank and into an account that had a debit card attached to it.

My mother did not want to admit that her son was doing something wrong

Her brother admitted he had done so – so that he did not have to keep going to the bank to cash the pension cheque for their parents every month.

“I think it was true that it started because of that. But then he must have realised he had money easily available. By the end of it he took about €75,000. He must have been going through a tough time. Till today he never gave me a reason why he did what he did,” his sister said.

Jane shared her story, on condition of anonymity to protect her family, because she wanted to help raise awareness about elderly abuse.

Last week Times of Malta reported social worker Maria Camilleri, who has been working with old people for two decades, explain that elderly abuse – especially financial abuse – was on the increase and laws were urgently needed to address the situation.

Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly Franco Mercieca said that the introduction of such laws were promises listed in the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto.

He said that, this year, the government will be introducing amendments to the civil code and the criminal code to protect the elderly and other vulnerable groups. (See box below).

Elderly abuse goes beyond financial abuse. Data obtained from the police showed that last year police received 86 reports of domestic violence by victims aged over 60 – a sharp increase compared to the 39 reports filed in 2009.

Cases of bodily harm – that includes different grades of injury – against the elderly also increased with 81 cases reported last year – up from 62 in 2012 and 56 cases in 2011.

Jane’s advice to help stop elderly abuse is: better communication. She never had any idea how much money her father earned and how much his pension was. As a result she took longer to realise money was going missing.

To make matters worse her father, who used to take care of family accounts, got dementia and her mother was illiterate and could not read the bank statements.

This allowed her brother ample room for manipulation – something which Jane insists was only possible with the “support” of others, such as, banks not checking signatures properly.

Jane and her sister ended up having to stop their brother from taking their parents’ money by blocking him out legally.

Together the sisters obtained a power of attorney to represent their father which meant only they could sign for important transactions. But they only did this when most of his savings were gone.

When their father died they thought it was all over.

But their brother turned to their mother and did the same thing – he obtained her signature to get money transferred into an account he could access.

“One of the main problems was that my mother did not want to admit that her son was doing something wrong. She covered up for him,” Jane said.

By the end of it he took about €75,000

“He never hurt our parents and we never got to the stage where they were deprived of things. But he took their money.

“The sad thing is that, had we known they had those savings, we would have made sure they spent the last days of their lives more comfortably,” she said, adding that her father had been moved to a home and her mother, who has also passed away, struggled with living in a large house.

“I ask myself what would have happened had my brother been the only child.

“It’s frightening,” she said adding that, despite everything, she and her sister did not have it in their heart to press criminal charges against their brother.

(* Not her real name)

Harsher penalties will soon be implemented

Government legal consultant Toni Abela believes that elderly abuse is on the increase which is why planned legislative changes would soon be implemented.

The first legal changes planned are amendments to the civil code that will protect vulnerable groups, including the elderly, from abuse in cases of power of attorney.

Dr Abela said that there would be provisions that specifically ensured that an elderly person consented to giving power of attorney voluntarily and was aware of the implications.

Changes to the criminal code would follow and would include harsher penalties as well as specific reference to elderly people, said Dr Abela, who is also Labour’s deputy leader for party affairs.

The third initiative would be the introduction of a general law dealing with incapacity of mind.

Last week the office of the Commissioner for Mental Health held a seminar to discuss the legislation needed to protect vulnerable people who have to take informed decisions when it comes to issues like inheritance.

“We will protect the vulnerability of the vulnerable, including elderly people.

“We are trying to develop the concept of mental capacity which refers to people who can be easily manipulated.

“We have clients being technically kidnapped by their relatives and made to change their will against their will,” Dr Abela said.

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