Council of Ageing Condemns Violence Against Elderly Persons

The vicious attack of ninety-three year old Patrick Grant over the Christmas holiday weekend has sparked outrage. Several organizations including HelpAge Belize along with its sister N.G.O.s under the National Council on Ageing, today condemned the acts of violence against elderly persons. The NCA release says that, “since October of this year there have been reports of violent crimes against older persons in different parts of the country. In each incident these heinous crimes have caused shock and disbelief among our citizens.” According to the Executive Director of HelpAge, while there have been physical assaults against older persons, there is an alarming number of abuses against the growing population. Ivorine Bulwer says that they are making a call for action from government.

Ivorine Bulwer

Ivorine Bulwer, Executive Director, HelpAge Belize

“It was important that we say something about the incident, not just for that incident, but we are seeing an increasing trend in violence against older persons and hence we had to say something. One the gentleman is ninety-three years of age. Those persons, if they wanted to steal anything, they could have taken those items, but at the same time, the callousness, the inhumane. When you observe that gentleman…looking at the head injuries. It is saddening and hence we have to say something. But at the same time, we are looking at other incidents. We saw last year, two incidences—one in Corozal and another in Hopkins. And we are awaiting updates. And thus we are calling for our officials who investigate crimes, who are involved in criminal investigations to look at prosecuting these people, updating us at what is happening. And at the same time, we need to look at legislative measures that are in place to prevent to eradicate to punish incidents of abuse and violence. We need to recognize the alarming number of violence against our older persons. Older persons may have lost a loved one; they are not allowed to grieve because there are other family members who are there ready to take the little that they have. We have incidences where older persons’ property are unscrupulously taken away from them; we have incidences of abandonment, physical, financial…all forms of abuses. We have heard of an incident earlier this year in Corozal, where the son-in-law abused an elderly seventy-two year old woman. This is a call for action.”