Alarm that lives could be at risk from violent elderly man at Hobart aged care home

A woman says she is terrified her father, or other elderly residents, could be at risk of serious harm or death at the hands of a violent Hobart nursing home resident.

Older Australians can be left waiting for up to a year for a home care package.

A woman has raised the alarm over a Hobart nursing home, where a “volatile” 80-year-old man allegedly caused an elderly woman’s death – warning more lives were at risk.

Last month, the Mercury reported that a violent elderly man inside an unnamed nursing home had allegedly been bashing other residents.

However, the home had been unable to move him out, and into the potentially more suitable Roy Fagan centre for psychiatric, geriatric patients.

The Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard the elderly man’s behaviours had become increasingly frequent, sparking a “fear culture” among other residents – but was unable to make a guardianship order that could more easily relocate him.

The man allegedly pushed an elderly woman, who died from a fracture sustained in her fall.

This year alone, the man has allegedly shaken and pushed over a number of other residents, put his hands around a resident’s neck, bit and bent and arm and fingers of a visiting dentist, pushed a resident into shrubbery, and pushed a resident until she fell and hit her head on a concrete outdoor walkway.

However, his history of alleged violence dates back to 2022, when he allegedly pushed residents and staff, tried to choke someone and threatened someone with a knife.

A woman has since come forward to the Mercury, alleging the man had assaulted her 94-year-old father seven times.

“They were vicious, unprovoked, really fast and very impulsive,” she said.

“And we’re talking about a guy who’s around six-feet. He’s about twice the size of Dad.”

She said on one occasion, the man pushed her father over and the force of the push sent him “flying across the room”.

She said he could have easily hit his head and died.

“Now he has fear and anxiety every day,” she said.

“There’s been that many times that I’ve arrived and there’s been no carer in the room. And it’s not their fault – they don’t employ enough.”

The woman said she’d complained to the aged care home itself, Tasmania Police, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, the Australian Federal Police, and had contacted Hobart politicians for help also.

While she waits for help, the woman said she was terrified her dad would be the next resident to die at the hands of the violent resident.

“The force that I saw on the CCTV shocked me and my family. Dad could have easily hit his head on the corner of a table,” she said.

The woman said she also witnessed another resident, an elderly woman who had been bashed by the man, and that she was “black and blue”.

She said it was “mind-blowing” the man hadn’t been moved from the facility despite having caused someone’s death.

The state government has been contacted for comment.

Follow @ambervwilson

Originally published as Alarm that lives could be at risk from violent elderly man at Hobart aged care home