RIETI – Beating of the elderly mother, who ended up in hospital in Rieti. The arrest of a 63-year-old woman from Rieti was validated yesterday, for the alleged crimes of mistreatment in the family, private violence and threats, with a simultaneous order prohibiting her from approaching the injured party and the places frequented by the latter. The preliminary hearing judge, Carlo Sabatini, in the hearing, revoked the house arrest for the woman and validated the arrest made on Monday in Rieti, by the Carabinieri of the operational and radiomobile unit of Rieti.
The reconstruction. The elderly woman – 93 years old, bedridden, not self-sufficient and seriously ill – was found by the Carabinieri in a semi-unconscious state and with apparent signs of beatings, such as bruises, swellings and abrasions, both on the face and other parts of the body. According to the Rieti Prosecutor’s Office, there are “serious indications of guilt with respect to a probable continuation of the conduct” against the 63-year-old, who had also put in place intimidating reactions to the arrival of the Carabinieri and 118 personnel. Different, however, is the version provided by the daughter, who stated that she had never used any form of violence towards her mother and that the bruises and widespread bruises were due to her skin, now very thin, as well as to the intake of certain anticoagulant drugs, which cause signs of damage to the skin extremely easily. For a wound on her forehead, the daughter explained that it would have been caused by drying it with a handkerchief. Furthermore – since the mother is bedridden – any dressing, bandage or movement in bed would cause her to moan and cry out in pain, like those that would later attract the attention of some passers-by.
The steps. For months, the elderly woman had been receiving home care and – as reiterated by her daughter’s lawyer, Alessandra Cecilia – those who were taking care of her had never noticed any signs of abuse. The alarm was raised by some passers-by who had heard, from close range, screams from a house as well as noises attributable to beatings. The Carabinieri intervened on site: when they entered the bedroom, they found the 93-year-old semi-unconscious and with what were presumed to be signs of beatings: numerous bruises, lesions and widespread swellings. A context that triggered the arrest of the daughter, with the hypothesis of the crime of mistreatment in the family. On site, due to the seriousness of the woman’s conditions, also the 118, which ordered her urgent transfer to the de Lellis hospital. The medical report also revealed signs of damage to the ribs, a pleural effusion. Further investigations are underway, to shed more light on the matter, to assess whether it was really an episode of mistreatment in the family or, as repeatedly and firmly reiterated by the daughter, a series of circumstances that, ultimately, have instead outlined an altered picture of reality, not corresponding to the difficult daily routine of caring for the elderly mother at home.
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