Following a Greek prosecutor’s investigation into the deaths of 68 elderly residents of Agia Skepi care home at Chania, Crete, who died within a period of 12 months, seven suspects have been arrested. The seven arrested were expected to testify before magistrates on Friday and Saturday.

There had reportedly been motions from a previous prosecutor in 2010 to force the facility to shut its doors, following suspicions that health and security protocols were not being followed. However, the care home’s manager found ways to rort the system. Relatives of the 68 deceased have called for a thorough investigation of the home since April 2021, after they were told their loved ones died of heart failure, but they suspected some foul play during COVID-19 lockdowns. Many of the residents’ relatives live either in different parts of Greece or abroad.

Last year authorities exhumed the body of an elderly woman, who had died in 2020, to forensically examine the cause of her death as her son had seen bruises on her body. The exhumation took place in the village of Kissamos, with medical representatives of the family and the care home present. The coroner found severe abuse had taken place while the woman was still alive and determined the cause of death to have been a finger-deep injury in the head which led her to bleed out in three days while strapped on her bed.

Since then, the investigation has spread throughout Crete, as police examined death registries to identify other elderly people who had stayed at the institution. Police sources said the number of deaths from neglect was higher, but there were difficulties in gathering evidence to prosecute those cases. So far, the findings of the shocking report consisting of over 1,000 pages, identified 30 homicides and eight cases of attempted homicide in the years 2009 to 2021. It also revealed cases of fraud, forgery, issuing of false medical certificates and breach of duty.

Shocking conditions
According to nursing staff who came forward, the elderly were ill-treated and deprived of their medication to get them to sign away their assets – particularly real estate.

Even though the marketing of the Agia Skepi nursing home presented the facility as a haven for elderly residents who were well cared for and would spend their last days in a relaxed environment, the reality was criminally different seeing even functional residents stacked in the basement, restrained on their beds.

Speaking to national broadcaster ERT, Maria Papadaki, a lawyer whose father was one of the residents and who first filed a complaint, confirmed that while the monthly amount paid by residents varied from €700 to €1,200 the living cost per day per resident was 0.55 cents.

Citing information from the case file, Ms Papadaki said that 293 death certificates were issued between 2015 and 2021.

“The elderly were fed leftovers and offal, – never a full meal – and spoon-fed while tied up often to the point of choking. They were rarely fed meat or fruit, while their milk was diluted with water,” the report states.

Residents were left unwashed, in their own faecal matter, held down with leather straps and severely sedated. Even mobile patients were forced to wear nappies in order for staff to avoid trips to the toilet.

One of the facility’s former nurses who quit after not complying to the home’s irrational rules, testified that towels and razors were used on over 30 residents without being changed.

Arrests
According to local news provider “cretapost”, searches in the homes of the arrested yielded €105,000 in cash and jewelry that is believed to belong to residents.
Among the arrested were the 43-year-old facility owner and her mother, aged 68, two doctors and two nurses as well as a secretary. They all face charges of forming a criminal organisation, intentional or attempted homicide of elderly residents, illegal prescriptions worth three million euros, and millions of euros earned through criminal acts.

In addition to the seven arrested, an investigation into 30 more people continues; the list includes two notaries and two real estate agents involved into the purchase and sale of the property of one elderly resident, and also 12 employees of the Regional Government of Chania who failed to conduct inspections to the specific nursing home.