An elderly woman was forced to live in a garage fearing her54-year-old son, who put her in hospital for three weeks after beating her while drunk, would attack her again.

The 89-year-old woman, who lives in Paola with her two sons, aged 54 and 59, asked the court to evict her son as she was terrorised by his drunken, abusive behaviour. The court gave the man 20 days to vacate the property.

The elder son corroborated his mother’s statement that his abusive brother caused a lot of trouble as he spiralled out of control when intoxicated. Things came to a head on April 1, when she was admitted to hospital for treatment after being beaten by her son.

When she was released, 23 days later, her younger son was still living at her house.

Out of fear, she ended up living in a garage in Paola.

The man forfeited his right to legal representation and failed to prove he had any legal title to the property he is occupying.

Madam Justice Lorraine Schembri Orland ruled that the son had no legal right to live at the property rented by his mother and had only been doing so through her tolerance and goodwill.

The court deemed the situation as “intolerable and abusive” and condemned the fact that, instead of respecting his mother, he abused and terrorised her.

The judgment comes after Elderly Parliamentary Secretary Justyne Caruana told this newspaper the government was working on drafting a new law to protect vulnerable adults against abuse.

She said the government was considering a law empowering the court to remove people’s succession rights in proven cases of abuse and neglect.

Dr Caruana clarified that the idea was to include abuse as a criteria for people deemed unworthy to inherit. When a person was declared a social case, she said, the State would take over the responsibility to take decisions regarding the person’s well-being and the administration of the estate during the vulnerable person’s lifetime, not after death.

There were already legal instruments in place to provide for decision-making mechanisms such as guardianship.

However, these depended on a family member or another person’s willingness to submit himself as guardian.

“If a person ends up in a vulnerable situation because of his or her family members, then they must carry some of the burden.

“If these family members are dumping their responsibility completely on the State, then they should not expect to participate in decision-making or in the administration of a person’s estate.” A number of experts speaking to this newspaper called for the need to install public guardianship, a system which is employed in various countries, such as the UK and Canada.

The office of the public guardian would protect and make certain decisions on behalf of people who may not have the capacity to do so, such as about their health and finance.

It would also investigate circumstances where the property or finances belonging to an incapable adult appear to be at risk.