Caregiver Raped 80-Year-Old Woman With Dementia In Nursing Home Bathroom While Husband Slept

A 42-year-old man who works as a caregiver has been arrested for allegedly heinously raping an 80-year-old woman with dementia at a nursing home bathroom in Minami-Alps, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan.

The elderly victim, identified as Keiko Higuchi, who suffered from dementia and had difficulty walking, was reportedly subjected to sexual assault by the accused, Kazuki Tanzaki, in the bathroom of her room in the Wataboshi nursing home between 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Aug 5.

Higuchi later died due to the serious injuries she suffered during the sexual assault, Japan Today reported. The octagenarian reportedly shared a room with her 70-year-old husband who was asleep at the time of the sex crime.

On Aug 5, between 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m, Tanzaki reportedly took Higuchi into the bathroom inside her room before proceeding to choke and sexually assault her.

After Higuchi was found to be unresponsive the next morning, Tanzaki reportedly asked the nursing home director to call emergency medical services. Higuchi was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Autopsy results later revealed that she suffered a broken bone in her throat, the post-mortem confirming asphyxiation as the cause of her death.

Tanzaki was the only caregiver on duty at the nursing home on the night of the attack. Tanzaki reportedly confessed to assaulting the woman but told the police that he did not intend to kill her. He claimed to be stressed out over his caregiving duties and was finding it hard to get the Higuchis to do anything without an argument, according to the police.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a nursing assistant named Veronica Stewart, 40, has been arrested by the Memphis Police on Aug. 3 after she allegedly assaulted a 90-year-old Alzheimer's patient named Shelby County in the Graceland Nursing Home in 2017, Latin Times reported.

When the victim's daughter visited her mother, she reportedly found her in her nursing room with swollen lips, "several red knots to her forehead and a scratch to the left side of her face near her eye," according to the affidavit.

County has been confined to a wheelchair since the assault and requires total assistance with her daily living due to her ailing condition.

Stewart, who worked as an assistant at the nursing home at the time of the incident, confessed to police that she lost patience and allegedly hit the victim on the head with a shower curtain rod as the victim refused to take a bath and grabbed objects to attack her.

Stewart said that she then called for another staff to assist her. However, according to the affidavit, the victim never showered following the attack and no one was called to her room for assistance.

Stewart has been charged with two counts of adult abuse/neglect/exploitation and aggravated assault and was scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 9.