Dramatic degradation in an illegal retirement home: two arrests for mistreatment and abandonment of incapable people

Dramatic degradation in an illegal retirement home: two arrests for mistreatment and abandonment of incapable people.

Reggio Calabria. THE Carabinieri of the NAS of Reggio Calabria at the conclusion of an investigative activity, called "DOMUS AUREA”, they carried out, with the help of the military Provincial Carabinieri Command of the capital, to an Ordinance, issued by the GIP at Court of Reggio Calabria at the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office directed by the Prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieri, of application of the personal precautionary measure of the house arrest against two spouses, managers of an illegal retirement home, seriously suspected, according to the investigative hypothesis, of the crimes of mistreatment and abandonment of incapable people, with the aggravating circumstance of causing personal injury.

The investigations originate on June 29, 2023, when the Nas carabinieri entered a disused hotel in the Gallico area, where she had been staying a real retirement home has been set up without any authorization. Structure hosted over thirty elderly people, unable to provide for themselves due to old age and serious illnesses, in a situation of “dramatic degradation, abandonment and neglect”. In fact, it was evident in the eyes of the military a structure in profound decay, neglect, disorder and in very serious sanitary and hygienic conditions, with remains of feces and urine on the floor and beds, dirty diapers, remains of food and used crockery, so much so that all the rooms they were filled with a nauseating odor.

Furthermore, they were found in the kitchen room meat and eggs in poor condition, while at the doctor's office many of the medications were expired; to complete an already surreal situation, it was ensured, with the help of ENEL technicians, that the entire structure it was powered with an illegal connection directly to the public electricity grid.

Subsequent investigative activity, consisting of collection of numerous testimonies, made it possible to ascertain that:
– relatives of the elderly, they were obliged to notify the managers of a possible visit in advance and the meetings had to take place in the old hotel lobby, with a ban on access to the rooms, a likely conduct aimed at concealing the serious health and hygiene deficiencies.
– In order to have a greater profit, the managers had reduced the staff, both healthcare and cleaning, to the bone, effectively abandoning the elderly.
– Many guests were suffering from scabies, a detail that the managers tried to hide by dressing the victims in long-sleeved clothes.

Those arrested are not new to this conduct, in fact what was found in Giungo is only the confirmation of a "prearranged and already tested entrepreneurial scheme" to the detriment of particularly fragile elderly people, in fact already the NAS of Reggio Calabria between January and July 2020 had deferred to today's investigated for similar facts and seized further from them two structures used as retirement homes, even these without authorization, between Reggio Calabria and Gambarie.
In addition to the arrested subjects, were brought to justice for the same crimes, three additional social and health workers.
The criminal proceedings are in the preliminary investigation phase, without prejudice to subsequent assessments of merit