Caregiver acquitted in elder abuse case
By Lauren Pack
Staff Writer
January 29, 2009HAMILTON — A Butler County jury acquitted a caregiver accused of abusing an elderly Middletown woman.
Abena Afrakomah, 57, of West Chester Twp. and a Ghana native, was on trial for allegedly pinching and scratching Josephine Crawford at her home in April.
Crawford, who died in November of illness, told her granddaughter and Middletown police that Afrakomah was "punishing" her for having sex with evil spirits.
The Butler County Common Pleas Court jury at the Government Services Center in Hamilton deliberated for more than four hours Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Hamilton, before returning the not guilty verdict.
Defense attorney Larry Keller pointed to inconsistencies in Crawford's statements about how the abuse occurred.
The 74-year-old woman was taking medication for multiple illnesses that may have clouded her judgment and made her prone to hallucinations, the defense witnesses said.
Keller also noted the victim "couldn't tell the same story twice" about what happened to her, which caused reasonable doubt in the case.
Abridged
SOURCE: Middletown Journal - OH,USA
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