Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My apologies! The problem is with the article outside the paywall. NY Times article has more information and was written by Natasha Frost. Natasha Frost who writes the Europe Morning Briefing and reports on Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific from Melbourne, Australia. The NY Times article is well written.
Since every time I post the NY Times link, someone will complain about the paywall, I did a quick search and saw something that seemed identical and put in the link with least amount of pop ups and ads. I did not fully re-read the non-paywall version of the article before including that link.
I googled his name, found a long article in the Guardian. It gives details plus has a photo of them when they were "younger". They were a nice looking couple.
No doubt that her family moving her so far away was devastating to him. I don't understand why he didn't move there with her.
In the end, it sounds like he may have committed suicide after her death, he hit a utility truck head on. The 60 year old man driving the truck is in very serious condition.
Ralph ‘Terry’ Gibbs avoided jail after taking partner out of Western Australia nursing home and going on ill-fated trip across Australia
Quote:
Ralph ‘Terry’ Gibbs believed he was “acting out of love” when he made an ill-fated dash across the Australian outback to bring his partner with dementia home, but the 80-year-old ended up with a suspended jail sentence and a two-year restraining order.
Gibbs took his partner of 15 years, Carol Lisle, on 4 January from a nursing home in Mandurah – an hour south of Perth. The builder said he wanted to take her back to their Queensland home near the beach.
He was charged with deprivation of liberty and endangering Lisle’s life, but on 9 February he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful detention.
Magistrate Raelene Johnston told Gibbs that although he was motivated by love, he had put his wishes above Lisle’s needs.
The sad reality is that a two-year restraining order now imposed on Gibbs, who has medical issues and reduced mobility, means he may never see his lover again.
“I fear that I might never see my little girl again, she is fading quickly,” he told the media outside court.
He said he treasured what little time the pair could spend together. “I sat there for the whole day, just holding her hand, that’s all I did.
The gist of the NYT story is that this elderly couple had been together for 15 years but were not married. He was 80, and she was 84 when she developed Parkinson's with dementia. Her goddaughter elected to have her removed from his home and put into a care home 3000 miles away. Due to pandemic-related travel restrictions, the state where she now lived was frequently closed to travel and he was able to see her only 4 times in the ensuing months, and she begged him to take her back to their home.
So he "kidnapped" her and started driving cross country. They were apprehended 2 days later. He was given a seven-month suspended sentence and a two-year restraining order that barred him from visiting her. She died a few weeks later in her sleep and he died in a car crash a couple of days after that.
I think it’s horrible that they charged him, put a restraining order against him
seeing her, and I think it’s horrible that the goddaughter moved her so far away. This is what bothers me so much about power of attorney’s, often times what the person themselves one isn’t taken into consideration at all.
We have a long term resident at the home where I work who has lived her for several years. His roommate is actually a friend from his old city, and they were actually roommates for a while in that city. One of his family members wants to move him to another state closer to where the family member is. He keeps telling us he doesn’t want to go, that he is happy here, but that doesn’t matter at all.
Thank you for sharing! I subscribe to the Guardian but somehow missed the story…
You're welcome, thanks for starting the thread. Very sad story for them. I'll be shocked if he didn't kill himself. He drove with her all that way with no accidents, yet she dies, he has a major one, dying too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
I think it’s horrible that they charged him, put a restraining order against him
seeing her, and I think it’s horrible that the goddaughter moved her so far away. This is what bothers me so much about power of attorney’s, often times what the person themselves one isn’t taken into consideration at all.
We have a long term resident at the home where I work who has lived her for several years. His roommate is actually a friend from his old city, and they were actually roommates for a while in that city. One of his family members wants to move him to another state closer to where the family member is. He keeps telling us he doesn’t want to go, that he is happy here, but that doesn’t matter at all.
That's really sad. What he wants should be taken into account. I'd suggest he remove the POA or whatever they have for him.
They'll move him closer, drain his accounts and ignore him. I'm sure that happens pretty often.
That is like a 5 day drive - google estimates 54 hours.
It's a loooong drive. It's not like driving on the freeway. But people do it.
The articles state that the "family" is a god daughter. That's not a relative, unless god daughter means something different in Australia.
It just pisses me off. If the "family" was so worried, why did she not live with them, instead of a facility?
I see it around me all the time...people getting old & frail & suddenly "family" shows up, moves into their house, old person goes "into care".
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
