Woman, 90, suspected in death of nursing home roommate

A 90-year-old woman is suspected of causing the death of her roommate in a nursing home in Haifa on Friday.

The woman’s lawyer claimed the senior citizen acted in self-defense, accusing the victim, an 82-year-old woman, of attacking her first, according to a report published Saturday by Channel 2.

“My client was in bed late and suddenly the other woman jumped on her and began to stab her,” attorney Leonid Parhovnik said.

“She faced mortal danger… This is a classic case of self-defense,” added the lawyer, a public defender.

The 82-year-old woman died after allegedly being pushed.

The woman was being questioned by police as part of a larger probe into the incident. The 90-year-old passed a round of medical tests and a psychiatric evaluation on Saturday morning, according to the report, and is currently imprisoned in Kishon Detention Center in the country’s north.

Parhovnik stated that his client was cooperating with investigators and regretted the death of her roommate.

“These are two women, strangers to each other, that someone decided to put in the same room,” the woman’s attorney said. “They probably did not get along, but never did anything violent or unusual happen between them. [My client] is a perfectly normal woman, a former academic who has had a normal life, far away from the criminal world.”

Fanny Serouya, the deputy manager of the Ben Yehuda Nursing Home where the attack happened, expressed her regret over the incident, and said the old-age home will aid the police in their probe.

“We are all in mourning and send our condolences to the family. We are cooperating with the investigation and are providing all the information we need to deliver,” Serouya said.