Elderly woman with caretaker in Tel Aviv
Elderly woman with caretaker in Tel AvivFlash90

The Tel Aviv district prosecutor announced today (Monday) to the attorney for the foreign caregiver who tended to the elderly woman seen tied to a Bnei Brak fence in her wheelchair that her case had been closed for lack of evidence.

The case was opened after a Facebook post included a picture of the woman tied to a fence near the Ayalon mall. The post claimed that the woman had been left alone in the searing heat for 40 minutes.

According to the evidence gathered in the case which was thoroughly investigated by the prosecutor, it emerged that it would not be possible to refute the claim of the suspect and prove her criminal culpability. The caregiver claimed that she had to reach a place which was not wheelchair accessible and therefore left the old woman for no more than 10 minutes and maintained eye contact with her the whole time.

No other testimony was found which could contradict the caregiver's version as the writer of the Facebook post refused to testify to police and even retracted her version of the time which elapsed while the elderly woman was without supervision.

Due to this, it was determined that in the circumstances there was no danger to the life of the woman or any act which could have caused her lasting physical damage at the level of proof required in criminal law.

"Even though when the picture published on the Facebook post is examined it is possible to say that the actions of the caregiver are worthy of censure, they do not constitute a criminal offense," said the announcement. The family of the elderly woman was notified of the decision.