Nepalese caregiver arrested on suspicion of elder abuse

Foreign worker tells police her alleged physical assault on 83-year-old Netanya man ‘wasn’t a beating, it was a caressing’

Illustrative: A Filipino caregiver walks with an Israeli man sitting in a wheelchair on April 22, 2009. (Abir Sultan/Flash90)
Illustrative: A Filipino caregiver walks with an Israeli man sitting in a wheelchair on April 22, 2009. (Abir Sultan/Flash90)

A Nepalese woman suspected of physically assaulting an 83-year-old Netanya man in her care was arrested by police on Monday.

After her arrest, the caregiver denied allegations of abuse to police, saying, “those weren’t blows, it was caressing.”

The 40-year-old was remanded into custody until Thursday.

It was not immediately clear who tipped police off to the alleged abuse.

The arrest came days after police detained a Filipina caretaker who tied her elderly wheelchair-bound charge to a fence outside a mall in Ramat Gan while she shopped inside.

An elderly woman was tied in her wheelchair to a fence outside a Ramat Gan shopping mall for some 40 minutes, on August 2, 2016, sparking a police investigation after a passerby snapped a picture. (Channel 2)
An elderly woman was tied in her wheelchair to a fence outside a Ramat Gan shopping mall for some 40 minutes, on August 2, 2016, sparking a police investigation after a passerby snapped a picture. (Channel 2)

The Filipina caregiver and the elderly Israeli woman were identified after a concerned passerby snapped a picture of the latter left outside in the intense summer heat, and posted it on social media. The image went viral in Israel, sparking outrage and allegations of abuse.

Interior Minister Aryeh Deri vowed to deport the foreign caregiver.

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