Elderly people who are robbed could start getting their money back faster under legal amendments that will make a person convicted of such crimes automatically liable for damages upon sentencing.

The decision of the Magistrates’ Court will have civil effects, eliminating the need for the victim to pursue the perpetrator for damages through a civil case, Parliamentary Secretary for the Elderly Justyne Caruana told Times of Malta.

The change will form part of a set of amendments to the Criminal Code aimed to protect the elderly and vulnerable people.

The amendments, which have been approved by Cabinet, will be presented in Parliament on Monday – on the occasion of World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day, marked on Sunday.

The changes will also tackle other aspects of elderly abuse such as situations when people are cut off from social contact by people who want to take advantage of them.

The definition of abuse will be widened to include financial and emotional abuse, apart from physical and psychological abuse, and punishments will increase.

The government is also planning to change the Civil Code to address abuse in the granting of power of attorney. Sometimes, elderly people are duped into giving control of their assets to people who do not have their best interests at heart.

The amendments, Dr Caruana said, would introduce more checks and balances to avoid this sort of thing from happening.

Speaking during a seminar in April, Commissioner for Mental Health and Older Persons, John Cachia, said that abuse of elderly people was on the increase and more needed to be done to tackle this hidden problem.

He echoed concerns that had been raised by Victim Support Malta director Roberta Lepre, who said the NGO had noticed an increase in the incidence of elderly people being abuse.

Meanwhile, the International Institute on Ageing – United Nations (Malta) will today be marking World Elderly Abuse Awareness Day by presenting a selection of books to the library of the University of Malta at 10am.