Human Rights in Ireland

John Trimble was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday at Tullamore Circuit Court for falsely imprisoning his elderly parents at specified dates last year.  See the Irish Times coverage of the case here.  The trial judge stated that in his “40 years prosecuting, defending and judging cases of every sort I thought I had seen it all – well I haven’t”.  John Trimble pleaded guilty to the charges of false imprisonment, endangerment and assault.  The abuse as reported constituted both physical and psychological in nature.  The perpetrator forced his parents to take cold showers and drip dry.  They were denied food, clothing and medical attention over a period of months.  His mother was forced to carry out housework while naked and his father was forced to discontinue treatment for prostate cancer.  The abuse was discovered when the perpetrator refused HSE nurses access to his parents in July of last year.  The Gardaí were subsequently called and the victims were found naked on their beds, malnourished and spent 9 days in hospital recuperating.  In the victim impact statement read by another son the couple informed the court that the abuse had rendered them financially dependant on welfare and charity.  The victims also reported how they felt “isolated” in their community as a result of the abuse and dependant on their daughter and untrusting of people.

This case highlights the issue of elder abuse, which is a global phenomenon.  There has been recognition for many years that the abuse and neglect of older persons.  However, it has only in recent years that policy has been aimed at addressing elder abuse in Ireland.  The domestic violence legislation does provide some protection for older persons.  However, there is concern that the law is insufficient.  Age Action Ireland argue that tougher laws are needed to prohibit elder abuse and protect vulnerable adults.   They also argue that legislation is needed to establish the rights to core services for older people and to impose duties on statutory bodies to provide services.  While there is no specific statutory provision in criminal law dealing with the vulnerability of older persons to abuse the issue is clearly taken into account by the judiciary at the sentencing stage.  The vulnerability of an older person is likely to be regarded as an aggravating factor by a trial judge at sentencing. Factors such as the use of violence, degrading behavior, premeditation, the use of excessive force are common examples of conduct that will be regarded as aggravating factors at the sentencing stage.  (See DPP v Tiernan [1989] I.L.R.M. 149)  The abuse of a position of power or the breach of trust is often regarded as an aggravating factor in sexual offences and other crimes perpetrated against children.  The 15-year sentence imposed by the trial judge reflects the gravity of the offences and the aggravating factors (the sentence is likely to be appealed).

The HSE has a dedicated Elder Abuse Service with Senior Case Workers now dealing with elder abuse in most Local Health Office Areas.  All cases are treated seriously in a confidential manner.  The cases are also handled in a way that respects the wishes of the older person. The prime focus of the Senior Case Worker is to ensure the safety and well-being of the older person while providing supports to stop the unwanted behaviour and facilitate the continuation of care.  More information on elder abuse is available from the HSE website see here.

Naughton et al. in their recent publication “Abuse and Neglect of Older People in Ireland: Report on the National Study of Elder Abuse and Neglect” found that the overall prevalence of mistreatment of older persons in Ireland was 2.2%.  The application of that statistic to the general population of people aged 65 years or older means that the number of older people who experience mistreatment annually is estimated at 10,201.  Financial abuse (the most frequent type of abuse) was reported at 1.3 %; psychological abuse 1.2%, physical abuse 0.5%, and neglect 0.3%. Sexual abuse was the least frequent type of abuse was reported at 0.05%.

The study found that the patterns of mistreatment varied between men and women and across the different age groups with women reporting higher levels of abuse than men. The highest levels of abuse were against men aged over 80 (the most common abuse being financial abuse).  Women aged 70-79 years reported the highest levels of abuse (mainly interpersonal).  The report drawing on international studies reported that elder abuse and neglect “… are the potential outcomes of complex interactions between a multiplicity of social, economic, health, social isolation, education, environmental and possibly individual personality characteristics. Rarely is the mistreatment related to a single isolated factor.”

The Report concluded that the response to effectively dealing with elder abuse and neglect “needs to be multifaceted, targeting early risk factors with an emphasis on prevention, and later risk factors with a focus on resolving the mistreatment.”  In that regard the Government needs to be mindful of this issue in making budgetary cuts.  The erosion of services for older persons needs to be carefully considered.  This recent case demonstrates the important role the HSE has to play in detecting and ending abuse.  The Report also acknowledged that the responsibility for elder abuse “is shared across the whole of society including individual older people, families, communities, health and legal professionals, voluntary organisations, the media, policy makers, legislators, education, health, social and housing services, financial organisations, employers, academic and social policy institutes.”

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