Family abandons 64-yr-old auntie in cold as they can't afford to look after her
Shocking revelations say that relatives of an elderly woman in Brazil abandoned her outside a care home in the cold because they did not have enough money to take care of her.
The relatives could face up to three years in prison after a distressing video emerged showing them allegedly abandoning her outside a care home on a cold night before driving off.
Security cameras mounted outside the private nursing home in Brusque, south Brazil, show the moment the vehicle pulls up just before midnight and the 64 year old gets out.
A relative opens the boot and hands her several bags. Then, as she lugs her cases on her own to the gate of the Lions Clube home, the motorist drives away.
The woman, who has not been named, is left looking perplexed as she watches the red tail lights of the vehicle disappearing into the night on July 13.
The night she was abandoned winter temperatures in the south of Brazil registered 10C. The frail pensioner rang the intercom and waited for someone to arrive.
In a video recorded by care home staff, she was seen crying, trying to make sense of what just happened.
On being asked why she was there, she said, “I don't know. I lived with them… They took me a long way from my home. I don't hate them, but they shouldn't have done this to me.”
The public prosecutor's office of Santa Catarina announced it is seeking a court order compelling the local authority and the woman's nephew, who she has been living with for three years, to pay for her long-term care in a home.
Her family claimed the pensioner had been involved in a series of disagreements over her treatment of their children and that growing financial problems meant they had found it difficult to 'keep her with them'.
Meanwhile a police investigation into the alleged ill-treatment of the senior citizen, which includes psychological violence and physical abuse, is ongoing and could result is criminal charges.
According to police, the couple thought by leaving their elderly relative outside the care home, which had advertised it had vacancies, staff would take her in.
