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Reward offered for info on woman’s assault

An anonymous man has offered a 25,000 kronor ($4,000) reward for anyone who helps police arrest the teenagers who assaulted an 87-year-old woman in Helsingborg in the south of Sweden.

Published: 18 November 2012 13:42 CET

The boys were kicking a dog that was tied up outside a shop in the Helsingborg city centre when the elderly woman intervened. The gang then turned on her.

She was punched in the face and fell to the ground. The boys then kicked her until she started bleeding.

The woman managed to make her way home where she was bedridden for days.

The assault happened on a Monday but was only reported to the police four days later by the woman’s grandchild.

Now, a man has offered the 25,000 kronor reward to help police catch the culprits, the local Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper reports.

Torsten Persson of the Helsingborg police has spoken to the anonymous donor.

“I have told him that if he wants to do this, that is perfectly fine. It will surely lead to some unreliable tips but we’ll make assessments,” Persson said.

Before the reward was announced, the police had not received any tips from the public.

According to Persson it is very unusual for members of the public to offer cash rewards.

“I have experienced it a few times, but usually it is relatives who are prepared to pay,” he said.

For any information to the police the public is advised to call 114 14.

TT/The Local/nr

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Spain’s prosecutors file criminal complaint over virus care home death

Spanish prosecutors said Tuesday they have filed a criminal complaint against a Madrid care home doctor and its director over the Covid-related death of a resident, in the first such case in the capital region since the start of the pandemic

Published: 15 December 2020 15:49 CET
Spain's prosecutors file criminal complaint over virus care home death
Photo: AFP

Madrid's public prosecutor's office said the two women are suspected of manslaughter and denial of medical attention in relation to the death in March of a woman in her 80s who had just moved into the home.   

Madrid was one of the hardest-hit cities in Europe by the first wave of the pandemic, and the complaint is expected to be one of several alleging inadequate care at retirement homes during the period.

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said the doctor and the director of the home, who were not named, did not follow the protocol set up by the Madrid regional government for caring for residents during the pandemic.

The doctor “disregarded” the protocol and did not call a hospital about the woman, despite her worsening condition, until eight days after she began having breathing trouble.

“Despite her rapid transfer to hospital, she died the following day from cardiac arrest,” the statement said.

The care home's director “was aware of the patient's clinical situation (but) did nothing” to ensure she received health care during periods when the doctor was absent, notably on the weekend before her death, it added.   

Amnesty International warned earlier this month that conditions at elderly care homes in the Madrid region and in Catalonia remained “alarming” despite improvements.

In a sharply worded report, it said the “vast majority” of residents had not been properly cared for during the pandemic.

The measures put in place by both regions were “inefficient and inadequate” and violated the residents' rights, it said.   

Spain has been one of Europe's worst-hit countries, with the virus infecting more than 1.7 million people and causing over 48,000 deaths.

Close to half of that number are believed to be elderly people who died in homes, Amnesty said.

At the height of the first wave in March, Spanish soldiers helping to fight the pandemic found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some cases, dead in their beds.

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