At the conclusion of an investigative activity, called “DOMUS AUREA”, the Carabinieri of the NAS of Reggio Calabria executed, with the help of soldiers from the Carabinieri Provincial Command of the capital, an Order issued by the GIP at the Court of Reggio Calabria at the request of the local Public Prosecutor’s Office directed by the Prosecutor Giovanni Bombardieriof application of the personal precautionary measure of 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 peoplewith the aggravating circumstance of causing personal injury.
The investigations originated on June 29, 2023, when the Nas carabinieri accessed in a disused hotel in the Gallico area, where a real retirement home had been set up without any authorization.
The structure housed over thirty elderly people, unable to care 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 degradation, neglect, disorder and in very serious hygienic and sanitary conditions, with remains of feces and urine on the floor and on the beds, dirty diapers, remains of food and used crockery, so much so that all the rooms were permeated with a nauseating odor.
Furthermore, they were found in the kitchen room meat and eggs in poor condition, while at the medical shop many of the drugs were expired; to complete an already surreal situation, it was ascertained, with the help of ENEL technicians, that the entire structure was powered by an illegal direct connection to the public electricity grid. Subsequent investigative activity, consisting of the collection of numerous testimonies, made it possible to ascertain that: – the relatives of the elderly were obliged to notify the managers in advance of a possible visit and the meetings had to take place in the old hall of the hotel, with access forbidden in 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 June is only the confirmation of a “preordained and already tested entrepreneurial scheme” to the detriment of particularly fragile elderly people, in fact the NAS of Reggio Calabria had already today’s suspects for similar facts were referred and two further facilities used as retirement homes, also without authorisation, seized from them, between Reggio Calabria and Gambarie. In addition to the arrested individuals, three further social and health workers were brought to justice for the same crimes. The criminal proceedings are in the preliminary investigation phase, without prejudice to subsequent assessments of merit