As Dementia Came…the Retired Justice of the Peace Became a Thief

Two cases of how dementia affected the individuals’ thinking abilities, their impulse controls, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

He was taking a break on a hike inside a temple, thought that the cookies, after they were offered, can be taken, the families provided the documentations of his conditions to the courts, the district attorney didn’t prosecute him for theft.

Those diagnosed with dementia had often lost their judgments of their behaviors, they’d gotten lost, and gone astray, some had even, turned into criminals.  A retired justice of the peace with the good record as a judge, after he’d retired, he’d, taken the cookies offered at a temple, and the workers at the temple sued him for theft, the district attorneys, in investigating the matter, found that the man was, demented, that he wasn’t able to tell that his behaviors wasn’t right when he’d taken the bag of cookies, and because it was a misdemeanor, they’d not charged him.

Based off of understanding, when this retired justice of the peace was still in his position, he’d gotten the reputation of being a “fast hand’, he’d worked through the cases swiftly, and justly, he’d gained a very good reputation, and after his retirement, many of his former coworkers still recalled the good work he’d done, but, he could, no longer recognize some of his former coworkers.

The district attorneys investigated, that this retired judge has the habits of hiking to work out, back then, he’d gone hiking on his own, he’d rested at the temple, and found the snacks offered on the table of the shrine, he’d, reached for a pack, and put it in his pockets, the workers in the temple found it, and reported it.

As the officers came, this retired judge became flustered, claimed that he thought after the items were offered, they were, free for the taking, as the families rushed to him, they’d told the authorities that he was demented, and provided the police with the medical records.  The district attorney found, that he couldn’t tell who the snacks belonged to when he took them, and that it was, a misdemeanor, and afterwards, the temple didn’t pursue it any longer, they’d, dropped the charges against him.

And, there was a man in the city of Taipei who was accused by his own mother for taking the assets, and the district attorney’s investigated, and found that Lin’s mother was demented, forgotten that she’d, asked for all the records and handed the items to her own son to keep, the two of them almost went to court, and in this case, the district attorneys, also dropped the case agains the son.

Based off of understanding, Lin’s mother is eighty, and because Lin’s father wanted to buy a place, he’d, invested the money into the drugs sold by the underground radio stations and gambled the money away, Lin and his mother went to the land offices to get the deeds reprinted two years ago, and after the deeds of the properties were reissued, Lin kept it in a safe place.

But because of how Lin’s mother had dementia, she’d, forgotten about this, last year, she’d gone with Lin’s father to the land offices to register their properties, and to file for the reissuing of the paperwork, as Lin found out, he’d provided the original of the deeds, and the land offices threw out the registration that his parents filed for this second time; Lin’s mother thought her son had encroached the assets that the family owned, and SUED her own son with her husband.

The D.A. found that Lin’s mother had Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, forgotten that she’d given the deeds to her son for keepsake, and Lin’s younger sisters also testified, that it was her mother’s worrying that the propery and other assets might get sold off by their father, that was why she’d, filed for an reissuance, “back then, she was of a lucid mind”.  In the end, the D.A. found, that Lin had no intentions for encroachment, and dropped the charges against him.

And so, sometimes, getting IT in writing still won’t do the trick, and, having everything recorded down, like keeping a sound recording of what was being said and when, that may not even work, because, as the elderly becomes demented, there’s NO way that the elderly will know what s/he did, or didn’t do, and in this case, thankfully, the man’s sisters was there to vouch for him, that he wasn’t, charged with taking the assets that his mother gave him to keep, for himself.  In the first case, because the former judge lacked the judgments, because of how his mind was, deteriorating, that was what caused him to take the offerings, and this still showed, how it didn’t matter what you did when you were younger, if you’re intelligent or not, if dementia comes for you, it comes for you, there’s no way of preventing that.