SENIORS in Bermuda are suffering from a variety of forms of subtle abuse, according to Age Concern head Claudette Fleming.

And in the light of an increasing number of attacks on older people and what she sees as declining respect for seniors, Ms Fleming has reiterated her call for a Seniors' Protection Act.

According to Ms Fleming, older people are being abused financially, verbally and by sheer neglect - and that's apart from the well publicised instances of violence against seniors to have reached the courts.

She said there were as many seniors as children on the island now and argued for legislation to protect seniors' interests along the same lines as the that in place to safeguard the interests of children.

Ms Fleming's comments came after the latest shocking case involving an elderly victim to be heard in Bermuda's courts this week, in which Dakari Ajamu Hollis was jailed for four years for kicking a 70-year-old after a minor road accident.

Victim Larry Anderson, now 71, required surgery to remove his kidney and gall bladder and afterwards had to give up work as a self-employed painter and the regular exercise he used to enjoy. Prosecutor Wayne Caines had asked Assistant Supreme Court Justice Archibald Warner to impose a maximum five-year sentence.

"The number of persons under the age of 14 is equal to the number of people over 65, according to figures in the latest census," Ms Fleming said.

"So tell me why there is no law for the protection of older people against abuse and neglect like there is for children.

"I think it's because most people find it difficult to relate to older people because they've never been old themselves."

Ms Fleming said efforts to lobby politicians, including Health Minister Nelson Bascome, had met with little sympathy when it came to talking about a new protection law.

"We have come up against ambivalence," she said. "We had a talk with the Minster of Health and he said that his technicians had not indicated there was a problem. But if you talk with the people in the Seniors and Disabled Department, which comes under the Ministry of Health, they would say there is a problem.

"If we had a law to protect seniors, I think it would raise awareness in society that persecution and abuse of older people will not be tolerated. We will continue lobbying for this law."

Abuse of seniors was in some cases so subtle that "people might not even recognise when they are perpetrators", Ms Fleming said.

"Neglect is one form of abuse that is pervasive," she said. "Neglect, not caring for an older person, and there is even a lot of self-neglect, where other people are not there as a check and balance.

"Older people are also abused financially and verbally. One of the things missing these days is respect for older people. There was a time when we respected older people and even revered them.

"No one would even consider mistreating them. That would just not have been accepted."

Families could not be held solely responsible for care of the elderly, Ms Fleming said, it had to be a community effort.

With marriage break-ups so frequent, the traditional family unit often did not exist. And she added that there was a responsibility upon all of us to prepare ourselves for old age.

High on Ms Fleming's agenda at the moment is finding a new home for Age Concern. No space could be found for the charity at the Government's new Office on Ageing and Age Concern must move out of its present home at the Centre of Philanthropy by the end of this month.

Age Concern can be contacted on 295-7525.